Danish Compound Teams Go 50% On Finals Field

The Danish compound women’s team, made up of Tanja Jensen, Sarah Holst Sonnichsen and Erika Anear, beat Turkey and Italy to make the finals in Ankara.

Against Russia, they had the country’s first ever chance at a world indoor gold in the discipline.

During the first three ends, Denmark trailed Russia, the silver medallists at the world indoors in Las Vegas in 2012, by a point. First at 57-58, then 114-115, then 171-172.

“It was pretty tough in there to see. All of us were trying to move our heads around to get the light out of our eyes. It was full-on,” Erika said.

Denmark had plenty of arrows sitting just outside or just on the 10-line. Whether it was struggling to adjust to the lighting conditions in the finals field of play or nerves or just luck, the Danish women struggled to dial in their sights.

Two-time World Archery Champion Albina Loginova, also going for her third title individual title and first indoor crown in Ankara 2016, shot her second eight of the match in the fourth end. She had been having trouble with the right side of her neck and she was freezing up during her shots, taking much longer to aim than usual.

Denmark, holding its 57-point average six-arrow score, did enough to level things up at the end of the regulation 24 arrows.

All tied at 228 points for each team, the match went to a shoot-off.

Mariia Vinogradova started for Russia, and started with a 10. Denmark’s Jensen followed: Also 10. Avdeeva and Loginova each took to the line, shooting nines, while Sonnichsen and Anear stayed perfect, putting in two 10s for a perfect 30 in the tiebreaker.

The Danes had no issue with circling the lines, the three 10s in the decider were all solid.

“It was very tough match, everything was very close. All the nines and 10s they were right on the line,” said 2015 youth world champion Jensen.

A tight match, indeed, but the Danish women did enough to win their first indoor world crown.

The celebrated compound men’s squad from Denmark also had a chance at gold at the World Archery Indoor Championships in Ankara. Although Patrick Laursen, Martin Damsbo and World Archery Champion Stephan Hansen performed at their usual exceptional standard for the back half of the match, an uncharacteristically loose start – 55 for their first six arrows – put them on the back foot early.

Sergio Pagni’s Italy did enough to stay ahead at every stage of the 24-arrow contest. Lucky Dog Vegas Winner Pagni, Luigi Dragoni and Michele Nencioni took compound men’s team gold ahead of the Danes, 231-230.

“First in qualification, first in the matches and now world champions, we are happy about that,” said Pagni. “There’s no doubt that this is Italy’s best team in the last years.”

Italy’s compound women’s team also collected bronze, beating the USA by two points. Featured in the trio was para archer Eleonora Sarti, competing in her first able-bodied competition.

World number one Sebastien Peineau and France took the compound men’s third place in a shoot-off with Russia. Despite neither team finding the middle in the shoot-offs, France had a nine that was nearly breaking the 10 line and closer to the centre.

“We shot too many nines,” admitted Peineau. “But we don’t really care about the scores. All that matters is we got more than the other team!”

Peineau also shoots for individual gold in Ankara.