USA compound men raise 5-year-old team world record

At the first stage of the 2016 Hyundai Archery World Cup in Shanghai, Reo Wilde, Steve Anderson and Alex Wifler – upped the USA’s own compound men’s world record ranking round mark by three.

The record set in Torino, at the worlds in 2011, was 2130.

In Shanghai, the trio scored a combined 2133 after ranking third, fourth and fifth in qualification, posting scores of 712, 711 and 710.

“We all pledged in the hotel room to make America great one arrow at a time,” joked Anderson. “This is a good start.”

“It was a good day. Braden even had a 707,” he added.

Braden Gellenthien, the fourth man on the high-performing States’ squad would have been the top scorer on most teams in Shanghai. He was with Reo in the team that set the standing record in Torino, along with third-man Jesse Broadwater.

“The US team over the past years have changed a lot,” explained Reo. “We’ve gone through a lot of faces but to come out here and break a mark that’s stood for five years is cool.”

Shanghai is Wifler’s first appearance on the World Cup circuit. He spoke about how incredible it was to shoot in the same team as archers he would follow on the scoreboard in the past.

All three agreed that the conditions in Shanghai were optimal for shooting.

“It’s one of those days when you feel like 710 is not enough, and then you get Mike doing what Mike did and it, really, wasn’t good enough,” said Anderson.

Mike Schloesser broke his own individual world record for the compound men’s ranking round by a point. He, Peter Elzinga and Thomas van Eil also tied the standing team qualifying score of 2130. It was good enough for a European record.