1st Stage Rematch for Indoor World Cup Final Gold

The opening Indoor Archery World Cup stage in Marrakesh, Morocco, was a strange one for Denmark’s Sarah Sonnichsen. Her bow didn’t arrive in time for qualification and she shot using her friend’s bow, while he was shooting it, on the alternate line but at the same time!

She ranked lower than expected, then her bow arrived that night.

With little time to prepare for the eliminations, she made her way through the brackets and into a gold medal match against Sandrine Vandionant from France, and Nimes – the club that hosted stage three of the circuit in early 2016.

Vandionant took the match in Marrakesh, 145-141. 

Fast forward to Vegas, and Sonnichsen, seeded number one, posted line-high scores in the quarters and semis to set up a rematch against Vandionant in another gold final, albeit this time for the full-circuit Indoor Archery World Cup title.

“I was a bit nervous, because she won the last time,” Sonnichsen admitted. She managed those nerves well, posting a perfect 30 with her opening salvo, and outscoring her French opponent by a point in each of the first three ends. “There were so many people out there watching. It was really impressive.”

The buffer decreased to two after the fourth, and that held to the end of the match, which Sonnichsen won with a 144.

“It’s always amazing winning, and I never thought I would win this,” she said. “As I was shooting with my own bow here in Vegas, I was much more comfortable. In Marrakesh, I had to get used to shooting with different bows, and now I had my own bow for the whole tournament – and it was great!”

So Chae Won beat Inge van Caspel to compound women’s bronze.

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