Anderson, Wifler, Gellenthien win USA’s 1st compound gold of 2016 season

Steve Anderson, Alex Wifler and Braden Gellenthien beat Italy with 232 points their opponent’s 229, overcoming an early seven in a comfortable victory to take gold in Medellin.

The USA opened with a perfect 60-point end and looked in command.

But, shooting first in the rotation, Anderson put in an unsightly seven with the first arrow of the second series, low and left.

“I don’t know exactly what happened,” he said, afterwards. “I shot, and I thought it was going to be a nine. I will never know, until the day I die, why that was a seven.”

Every single other arrow of Steve’s in the match was a 10.

Despite the rough scoring shot, the USA team still put together a 56-point end in the second, and held its two-point advantage into the halfway point.

That would expand to three after the third end – and be enough for the States to take its first compound gold medal of the year.

Wifler and Anderson, with Reo Wilde, had silver at the first stage in Shanghai. They were beaten by Iran in the final. Reo, who shoots for individual gold in Medellin, qualified fourth and didn’t make the team.

“Our team is really strong,” said Gellenthien, speaking on the ability of the States to sub archers in and out of the line-up. He was on the sidelines in Shanghai.

“It comes from the grassroots back home. We have maybe eight to 10 guys that we can send on any weekend and do very well, so it wasn’t a big change to have Alex instead of Reo in the box.”

“I felt confident that he would hit the 10 as often as Reo does.”

Gellenthien was the team’s top scorer, with 78 out of a possible 80 points, while Wifler and Anderson both had 77.