Dane Simon Olsen takes compound junior world title

Denmark’s Simon Olsen took the compound junior men’s gold medal in a shoot-off at the 2018 World Archery Indoor Championships, beating the USA’s Curtis Broadnax with a better nine after the scores were tied at 145-points apiece at the end of regulation. 

“When I came out there I was just shaking like hell. I couldn’t really stand still. I really felt the pressure. It’s not my first finals, but it’s the first time I’ve been on a stage this big,” said Olsen.

After Broadnax’s low nine, out wide in the yellow in the central target on the triple spot, Olsen stepped up. It was only a nine – but it was better. 

“I was just focusing on my own shooting. I didn’t even look at his arrows. My coach was just telling me to concentrate on my own shooting, to calm me down,” he added.

Broadnax, in his second year as a pro and four months removed from winning the World Archery Youth Championships, was calm about the result.

“I’ve had to do shoot-offs in gold medal matches before in national tournaments and at matches in general. I have a lot of experience, I just didn’t put it there when it counted today,” he explained.

“I talk to myself the entire time when I’m up there shooting. I just tell myself to put it right in the middle and make the best shot you can. Today it didn’t quite happen, but that’s okay, some days are like that. My opponent shot great.”

In the men’s bronze match, Remy Leonard beat the USA’s Ethan King to snatch another gong to add Australia’s medal haul for the week.

“The match was pretty stressful. I managed to put in a lot of good shots, but I’ve never had anything like that [finals stage] before,” he said. “But it was fun, was good to see all the Australians cheering for me.”

“I’m going to take away a couple of medals, and probably the motivation to train a bit more. I haven’t been doing as much as I should’ve in the last year or so.”

The 2018 World Archery Indoor Championships takes place in Yankton, USA on 14-19 February.