Brady beats 3 consecutive shoot-offs to make Shanghai final

Four-time Hyundai Archery World Cup Final Champion Brady Ellison won three shoot-offs in a row to make his first major gold medal match of the year, where he will face world number one Kim Woojin of Korea, at stage one of the 2018 circuit in Shanghai, China.

Ellison beat Denis Gankin in the third round, Mauro Nespoli in the quarterfinals and second seed Lee Woo Seok in the semis, all in tiebreakers.

“I’m just kinda happy to be in the final. It’s one of those days where I probably shouldn’t be there but the sets fell right for me,” he said. 

“I’m just happy to be there and hopefully go over there and shoot good on Sunday.”

The decorated US Olympian lost to Shanghai finals opponent Woojin in the final of the Rome 2017 Hyundai Archery World Cup Final – and has only beaten him once in head-to-head matchplay, back in Porec in 2011. (They’ve met six times in international competition.)

In terms of tournament records, the pair makes for one of the best rivalries in modern archery.

“I think his strengths are that he never misses, and he never misses and I don’t think he has any weaknesses. I truly believe that he’s the greatest archer that has ever been,” he said.

“He may not have the medals at Olympics yet, but the world championship wins, the scores he’s shot, what he does every single time, he’s a great shooter and I love the opportunity to go head to head with him.”

Kim Woojin qualified first in Shanghai and averaged 9.57 points per arrow in matchplay, almost 0.1 more than his career average.

Second-seeded Korean archer Woo Seok will face London 2012 Olympic silver medallist Takaharu Furukawa in the recurve men’s bronze medal match in Shanghai.

The reigning recurve women’s Olympic Champion, Korea’s Chang Hye Jin, is set to shoot in her second consecutive gold medal match at the tournament. She lost to teammate Ki Bo Bae in the 2017 final, and will have the crowd against her this time around as she takes on China’s An Qixuan.

Italy’s Vanessa Landi and Maja Jager, the 2013 World Archery Champion from Denmark, made the bronze medal match.

The first stage of the Hyundai Archery World Cup takes place in Shanghai, China on 23-29 April.