Odense 2016 preview: Recurve women

The 2016 Hyundai Archery World Cup Final runs 24/25 September in Odense, Denmark.

It features 32 of the world’s best archers, the top qualifiers over the year’s three stages in Shanghai, Medellin and Antalya, plus host nation representatives in the recurve men’s, recurve women’s, compound men’s, compound women’s and mixed team divisions.

All the previews:

• Recurve men
• Recurve women
• Compound men
• Compound women

qualifers

(The seed for the Hyundai Archery World Cup Final is given in brackets after each athlete’s name. Average arrow figures are taken from 70-metre ranking rounds and matches at world ranking events in the last 24 months.)

TAN YA-TING, Chinese Taipei (1)

Fifth at the Rio 2016 Olympics, Tan Ya-Ting was the only recurve woman to medal, individually, at all three stages of the 2016 Hyundai Archery World Cup tour. (The top Korean team only attended two stages, but that makes this achievement no less impressive.)

At 22 years of age, Tan has already been a regular on the Hyundai Archery World Cup for seven years. Odense is her first trip to the Final, though.

Average arrow: 9.24

CHOI MISUN, Korea (2)

One for one in appearances and Hyundai Archery World Cup Final wins, Choi Misun is the circuit’s defending champion. She had a disappointing Olympics (despite gold in the team, of course) with a first-overall individual seed and a loss before the medal matches.

She’s world number one, though, and has won an incredible 88% of her lifetime matches – plus she wasn’t beaten in team, mixed team or individual competition at all through the two World Cup stages – Medellin and Antalya – she attended in 2016.

Average arrow: 9.39

KSENIA PEROVA, Russia (3)

Russia lost the recurve women’s team final at the Olympics to Korea – the nation that’s collected gold in every edition of that tournament (eight in total). Perova was also in the team that won the worlds in 2015.

She qualified for Odense by virtue of her first individual medal since 2010 at the international level – at the stage in Antalya, where she finished second (to Choi).

Average arrow: 9.12

KI BO BAE, Korea (4)

With four Olympic medals, three of them gold, in two Games appearances, Ki Bo Bae is rapidly ascending to the realms of being one of the greatest Korean recurve women in history. She’s won the World Cup once before, in 2012, and is the reigning World Archery Champion.

This marks Ki Bo Bae’s fourth appearance in the final of archery’s premier international tour.

Average arrow: 9.34

GUENDALINA SARTORI, Italy (5)

Guendalina continued the impressive form from her best indoor season to date (two podiums) into outdoor tournaments. She also finished fourth with the Italian team in Rio. She made the last eight at the two stages of the tour she attended in 2016.

Average arrow: 9.01

WU JIAXIN, China (6)

Another first-time finallist, Wu is also the youngest of the eight recurve women in Odense. (She’s 19.) A silver medal in Medellin, at stage two of the year’s tour, was what gave her the points to qualify for the Hyundai Archery World Cup Final.

Wu has never lost a shoot-off. (She’s been in four.)

Average arrow: 9.03

TUIANA DASHIDORZHIEVA, Russia (7)

The second member of Russia’s Olympic silver medal winning team in Odense, Dashidozhieva’s biggest individual achievement to date is a silver at the 2016 European Championships.

It’s her first Hyundai Archery World Cup Final, in her second world cup season, after ascending to the senior ranks in 2015.

Average arrow: 9.03

MAJA JAGER, Denmark (8)

There’s no doubt that Jager’s best results come in big events. In 2013, she was World Archery Champion – and then in 2015, she finished second at the first European Games in Baku.

Her’s was one of the more surprising omissions from the list of qualified archers (or nations) from Rio and she has the ability to cause trouble as the home nation representative at her first Hyundai Archery World Cup Final.

Average arrow: 8.97

Storyline

Tan Ya-Ting, now a team bronze medallist at the Olympics since Rio, is always there or thereabouts. It’s the first time that she’s made the final – after Le Chien-Ying (her Chinese Taipei teammate) did in 2015.

Seeded first, she theoretically has the easiest path to gold. It’s time for Tan to live up to her potential and win her first individual gold medal at the senior level.

The gold Final?

Our prediction: Ki Bo Bae, Korea /Choi Misun, Korea

The Olympic Champion, Chang Hye Jin, the third member of the Korean women’s team, didn’t qualify for Odense. Ki Bo Bae and Choi Misun are in opposite sides of the bracket. There’s only, really, one conclusion to draw. Odds on that Choi defends her title.

Advantage: Choi

See someone else winning? Let us know on Twitter, @worldarchery is the handle.