Vegas day 1: Veteran FRANGILLI 3 points shy of perfect

The recurve championship female division is currently headed by KIM Yu Mi of Korea, shooting a solid 295; once again, Aida ROMAN (MEX) is the sole archer to prevent a Korean sweep of the top three with a 293. Korea’s JEON Sungeun, who dominated this event last year, holds third with 292. Fans should watch Korea’s KIM Min Jong and CHANG Hye Jin, well positioned to make a run at the top three spots tomorrow.

The recurve men’s group saw one veteran Olympian post a very strong score, with Italy’s Michele FRANGILLI shooting just three points shy of perfect with a 297. Rick VAN DER VEN (NED) was just two points behind with a 295, while USA’s Daniel MCLAUGHLIN enters the top three with 294. Threats to the top three include USA’s Jeremiah CUSICK and Jake KAMINSKI, just behind with 294 and 293.

Sarah LANCE (USA) became the first female compound archer of the tournament to crack the 300 club today, shooting a perfect score and just one point ahead of Colombian star Sara LOPEZ. Crystal GAUVIN (USA) was also just one point behind, as are Camilla SOEMOD (DEN), Kailey JOHNSTON (USA) and Samantha NEAL (USA).

Three men are currently tied for first in the compound men’s group: Kriss SCHAFF, Dan JASA and Dan MCCARTHY, an all-American top three – for now. In fact, the top 46 archers have posted 300s, which makes this a tight race to see who can hold that perfect score through Sunday’s shoot down for the big paychecks for which the Vegas Shoot is famous. Peter ELZINGA from the Netherlands, one of the finalists from last year’s Vegas Shoot and winner of the third stage in Telford (GBR), dropped a point early in his round but is still in contention for the World Cup final as are many of the archers from all over the world who made the trip over to battle for the title.

Tomorrow night, archery fans worldwide will tune in to the live broadcast of the Indoor Archery World Cup Final, in which the top stars of the season will return to compete for the championship title. Performances from today and tomorrow in the Vegas Shoot will help to seed the athletes for their elimination round matches in the Final. JEON Sungeun, Brady ELLISON and Braden GELLENTHIEN, winners in 2013, could find themselves on the podium again tomorrow night; however, there is major potential for upsets as tomorrow’s brackets shape up.

Follow the action from tomorrow night’s Finals on World Archery TV, and join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter using the hashtags #IWCFinal and #VegasShoot. 

World Archery Communication