Belgium’s Brend Frederickx into second final of debut World Cup stage

Belgium’s Brend Frederickx and Sarah Prieels will shoot against the USA for the compound mixed team title at the second stage of the 2019 Hyundai Archery World Cup in Shanghai after beating Russia, New Zealand and Iran during eliminations.

It’s the second final for Frederickx at this event, as he will also shoot for the individual gold medal.

“Brend shot really well, we are happy and he gets to go for two golds here,” said Prieels, the current world number 17 in the compound women’s rankings. “The first match [together] was a bit hard because it’s the first time we’ve been shooting together and then we just got on with it. It’s a great week.”

The Belgian pair seeded fourth with a combined score of 1392 points over the mixed team ranking round. Brend and Sarah improved in every round of the eliminations, shooting 16-arrow match scores of 153, 156 and 158 points as they secured their spot in the eliminations.

Their opponent in the final – the USA’s Alexis Ruiz and Matt Sullivan – are into a second consecutive mixed team final on the Hyundai Archery World Cup circuit, after beating France to the gold medal in Medellin.

“We work really well as a team; everyone has seen it already. We are back,” said Ruiz.

She and Sullivan beat Japan, Malaysia and Hong Kong, dropping just a single point in their opening and eight over the three.

“We’ve both been shooting solid. We had one match that got down a little closer than we wanted but I think it’s just a mental thing, we opened and closed with a 159. We can’t complain,” said Matt.

Frederickx faces another US archer in the individual compound men’s final in Shanghai in Braden Gellenthien. Guaranteed two medals at this tournament, at least a pair of silvers, it’s an impressive opening international for the relatively unknown 21-year-old Belgian archer.

The compound mixed team bronze medal match will be contested between Iran and Hong Kong, China.

​The second stage of the 2019 Hyundai Archery World Cup takes place on 6-12 May in Shanghai, China.