Young archers HANSEN, VAN DEN BERG and MEISSNER qualify well in Telford

The only compound archer to win two outdoor World Cup Finals back to back, Sergio PAGNI (ITA), sneaked in to the eliminations, as did Singapore finalist Logan WILDE and former world champion Dietmar TRILLUS (CAN). 

KIM Yu Mi of Korea and Brady ELLISON (USA) turned up to practice in the early afternoon, after shooting their ranking round yesterday. KIM’s 592, which drew the recurve women’s world record, was better than any archer today. ELLISON, who scored 593, also took the top seed but was drawn on score by Dutch 18-year-old Sjef VAN DEN BERG.

“It was a good score and a good day, except for the horrible migraine,” said VAN DEN BERG. “I took a couple of painkillers and just focused on shooting.”

Last year, in Nimes, the reigning European team champion and team silver medallist at the recent world championships in Belek qualified in first with 591. This year, the 593 was an improvement – and drew VAN DEN BERG’s personal best – but was not quite enough to overtake ELLISON.

“The lighting is very even and the venue is great. If I can shoot 30s in qualification, I can shoot 30s in head-to-heads. I am up against Kacper SIERAKOWSKI first, the Polish archer who came second in the youth worlds in Wuxi, so it should be a good match. It should be fun.” The average age of the recurve men’s top 10 qualifiers is under 25 years old!
Singapore winner Erika JONES (USA) was seven points clear

at the top of the compound women’s seedings. Before the last session today, 19-year-old German archer Janine MEIS

SNER led, but she was relegated to fourth by JONES and her States teammates Crystal GAUVIN and Christie COLIN.
Youngest archer on the field, shooting in the European Archery Festival junior tournament, eight-year-old Ben Walch did not make the top 32 cut. No doubt the first-time three-spot shooter will have picked up valuable experience, competing in his first international tournament at such a young age!

Top threes

 Category  Recurve women  Recurve men  Compound women  Compound men  Top
 seed KIM Yu Mi
 (KOR)  Brady ELLISON
 (USA)  Erika JONES
 (USA) Stephan HANSEN
 (DEN) Second
 seed PARK Sehui
 (KOR) Sjef VAN DEN BERG
 (NED)  Crystal GAUVIN
 (USA) Paul TEDFORD
 (USA) Third
 seed JEON Sungeun
 (KOR) Jean Charles 
 VALLADONT (FRA)  Christie COLIN
 (USA) Mike SCHLOESSER
 (NED)

See full results from qualification and photos from the third stage of the Indoor Archery World Cup in Telford.

Competition continues this evening in Telford, after the ranking lists are cut at seed 32 in each category. They advance to the eliminations, while 33rd position and below are out of the tournament.

The junior categories, which are not part of the Indoor Archery World Cup, will shoot eliminations first, before the seniors take to the field at around 18h15 local time (GMT). Four finalists in each division will be decided tonight, ready for tomorrow’s finals live on Archery TV from 14h00 (GMT).

The European Archery Festival in Telford is the third stage of the 2013/14 Indoor Archery World Cup. Check the event website, follow it on Facebook and Twitter, and keep up to date with live scores throughout the competition.

World Archery Communication