Vegas 2018: Champ drops point, 52 clean after day one

Reigning open champion Mike Schloesser dropped a point to finish on 299 as 49 men and three women shot perfect 300 rounds on day one of The Vegas Shoot 2018 in the South Point Hotel, Casino and Spa in Nevada, USA, while big names fell out early.

“Nerves got the best of me and I was thinking too much, not just shooting,” said world number three Schloesser, who became the first non-Americas archer to take Vegas victory in 2015 and repeated in 2017.

The championship division of the largest-ever Vegas Shoot – at over 3500 participants – sees pros shoot three days of 30 arrows at a triangular three-spot face, scoring the recurve 10-ring as 10 (and the World Archery compound 10 as X).

Those who shoot perfect 900s make the final shootdown for a huge cash prize, which in the compound open division in 2018 is up to $52,000.

The number of clean archers is well down on last year’s total, when 58 men and six women posted 300s on the first day, and back around the averages of recent years past. In 2015, there was 49 athletes clean on day one, too – while in 2014 it was 46, and 42 in 2013.

“I don’t know if [The Vegas Shoot is] the ultimate test of consistency, but it definitely tests your mental game,” said two-time winner Jesse Broadwater, who was one of the 300 shooters with 29Xs.

“All you’ve got to do is shoot all 10s. Most of us here in the pro division can do that all day long at home. It’s just a test of your mental capabilities and trying to hold it together.”

“That’s Vegas, that’s what it’s all about.”

Among the other pros to stay clean were Kris Schaff, Sergio Pagni, Chance Beaubouef, Dave Cousins, Paul Tedford, Sebastien Peineau, Matt Stutzman, Andrea Marcos and Danielle Reynolds, who led the women on X-count with 23.

The women’s winner in 2017, Tanja Jensen, dropped two; Chris Perkins, Reo Wilde, Braden Gellenthien and Stephan Hansen all put one out.

The first two days of The Vegas Shoot act as the fourth stage of the Indoor Archery World Cup. Full results from the extensive division list at the main tournament are available via Ianseo.

The fourth stage and final of the 2017/2018 Indoor Archery World Cup season takes place in Las Vegas, USA on 9-10 February; The Vegas Shoot concludes on 11 February. 

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