Brady bags second big victory of 2019 Hyundai Archery World Cup season

Brady Ellison beat Steve Wijler in straight sets in Antalya to take his second individual stage victory of the 2019 Hyundai Archery World Cup season and the eighth of his career. The last time the four-time Hyundai Archery World Cup Champion won multiple circuit stages in the same year was 2011.

“From the very first arrow I shot on the practice field I just knew I was gonna be on, and that I was gonna have a good day,” said Brady, who also shot eight clean 10s during the USA’s team bronze medal match in the morning session.

“I shot eight 30s in a row on the practice field right before that match, and then got out there and everything hit exactly where I thought it would. I caught that last arrow and I couldn’t be happier.”

The world number four shot sets of 29, 29 and 30 points to his Dutch opponent’s 28, 27 and 29.

Ellison won gold at the first stage of the season in Medellin and then took bronze in Shanghai at stage two. Through those two finals and his relentless, 6-0, victory over Wijler in Antalya he has dropped a total of eight points in 30 arrows.

To put that in perspective, in the highest-pressure situations he’s been in this year, Brady is averaging a per-arrow score that would translate to a 701-point 72-arrow 70-metre ranking round.

It’s an astonishing level heading into the Hyundai World Archery Championships in two weeks’ time.

“At the worlds, instead of 120 guys you have 300 guys that show up, so really anything can happen, the matches are a lot tighter and a lot tougher,” he said. “I’m hoping to be in there, I’m hoping to be in the final and I’m shooting good but so is Steve, so is Sjef [van den Berg], so are the all the Koreans, so is Mete.”

“There’s a pile of us shooting good this year so I think the world championships will be special and I think we’re gonna have another good set of matches like we’ve had all year.”

The recurve men’s bronze medal went to Turkey’s Mete Gazoz. Seeded top in Antalya, he beat Mauro Nespoli, 7-3, to take the second individual medal of his career on the international circuit after gold in Berlin last season.

Gazoz and Yasemin Anagoz also won the mixed team bronze medal.

Ellison’s victory in Antalya opens up a fourth recurve men’s spot at the Hyundai Archery World Cup Final for a points qualifier. Current number-two-ranked Lee Woo Seok is also already qualified after winning in Shanghai, while Sjef sits in third after Antalya.

Only one stage of the 2019 Hyundai Archery World Cup Final remains. The last chance for archers to qualify for this season’s Final is the stage in Berlin on 1-7 July.

The third stage of the 2019 Hyundai Archery World Cup takes place on 20-26 May in Antalya, Turkey.

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