Archery Australia’s men’s team for Rio revealed

Australia won a recurve men’s team quota place at the 2015 World Archery Championships in Copenhagen, Denmark.

Alec, Ryan and Taylor were selected to take up the team place in the upcoming Games after a rigorous selection process. The other athlete in contention was three-time Olympian Matt Gray.

Rio will be Alec Potts and Ryan Tyack’s Olympic debuts. Taylor Worth finished ninth at London 2012.

“In London I was the sole male competitor. Now with a full team it will change the whole experience,” said Taylor. “We are all shooting really well. If we are all on song on the right day then we are capable of potentially finishing on the podium.”

Tyack, who is one year younger than 25-year-old Worth, was the alternate for the Beijing Games when he was just 17.

“It was always going to be a strong team with four really, really good guys all competing for those three spots, so we were bound to get a top team out of it in the end,” he said.

Potts shot a personal best in qualifying at the first stage of the 2016 Hyundai Archery World Cup – 685 out of a possible 720 points – to rank third. Aged 20 and shooting internationally for only his second year, he has stepped up to make the Olympic team.

“The difference between winning sets and winning matches comes down to millimetres in archery and we have come a long way since the world championships and have definite medal potential,” said Alec.

Australia’s newly-announced squad will train in Brisbane ahead of stage three of the Hyundai Archery World Cup in Turkey, then return home before attending a camp in Taiwan to prepare for conditions at the Games.

Australia also has a women’s place to the Olympics qualified but has not yet nominated an athlete.