Ellison hopes USA meet Korean men again

In the gold medal match, Italy bested the USA with Michele Frangilli’s final arrow landing in the 10. But that last-four match against Korea, said Jake Kaminski, was a “statement”.

Kaminski and Brady Ellison, two of the Olympic silver medal-winning squad from London, return in Rio.

The third member of the USA men’s team in Brazil is 21-year-old Zach Garrett, a first-time Olympian who has already taken a pair of Hyundai Archery World Cup podiums in only 14 months on the international circuit.

Ellison said the trio’s potential was “massive”.

“This team outshoots the team in London hands down. We’re not really scared of anything. It’s going to be a good run,” he said. “Our goal is to leave it all out there regardless of the outcome.”

The team he most wants to meet in Rio: Not Italy, but world number one Korea, again.

“Anytime you get two heavy hitters on the field, there’s a lot of respect. I really hope it comes down to us facing Korea again,” Brady said.

Zach added that the team didn’t “fear anybody”.

“Ourselves, maybe. It’s us, the target, the arrow and the bow,” he said.

Ellison, at his third Olympic Games, has said he wants to continue for as long as possible. The only archer to have qualified for seven Hyundai Archery World Cup Final events in a row, he spoke of the difficulty to find such consistency at the top for such a long time.

He also said he’d found another gear. An improvement that had taken his archery to the next level – and was evident in the competition best he shot on the ranking round to open the 2016 season in Shanghai. There, he scored 697 out of a possible 720 points, two off Im Dong Hyun’s world record from London 2012.

“At this level, if you find something that gives you extra points, you don’t tell the other person. [I’m one of] five guys in the world that can shoot in the 690s. On a weekly basis I’m shooting above 700,” Ellison said.

“The world record is tough, but I think there are about five guys who could do it this year.”

The archery competition at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games starts on the 5 August in the Sambodromo.