Competition was narrowed to the top 32 in the individual events on Wednesday at the Archery World Cup event in Medellin, Colombia and for most of the Americans that wasn’t a problem. The US saw 12 of their 16 archers advance to the next day of competition with the women’s recurve athletes comprising three of the four who were knocked out. Only one of the four qualified in a top 32 position, Erin Mickelberry in 27th with a 632. Mickelberry didn’t advance though as she was blanked 6-0 by Mayra Mendez of Venezuela. Allison Eaton, seeded 45th, was also shutout 6-0 by Le Chien-Yeng of Chinese Taipei. Anna Miscione was seeded 44th and was also knocked out, though she got on the board in a 7-3 loss to Karina Winter of Germany. The only US woman to advance was #43 Lauren Clamon after she won a tiebreaker to defeat Elizabeth Rodriguez of Cuba 6-5. Mickelberry, Clamon, and Miscione will compete for the US in the team competition on Friday after qualifying in tenth.
The other American eliminated on day one was in the recurve men’s competition. The US archers qualified well, all four in the top 29, though Brady Ellison, second with a 687, and Jake Kaminski, seventh with a 674, were the best of the bunch. Both of them earned byes to Thursday’s round of 32. Also advancing to the round of 32 was Colin Klimitchek who won two matches from the #29 spot defeating Pablo Jordan of Bolivia 7-3 and Jose Alvarez of Ecuador 6-2. #26 Jacob Wukie had a first round bye but then dropped his opening match 6-2 to Felipe Perez Alvarez of Chile. Ellison, Kaminski, and Wukie earned the #2 seed for the men’s team competition and Ellison will pair with Mickelberry in the mixed competition where they are seeded eighth.
All of the US compound archers advanced on a strong day, though to be fair none of them won a knockout match. There were only 31 women’s compound competitors so there was no elimination rounds on Wednesday in that event. Crystal Gauvin continued her strong form from Shanghai as she was the second best qualifier after shooting a 698 and the only American in the top 15. Gauvin will join Emily Bee and Dhalia Crook in the team event where the Americans are seeded third of the four teams competing.
On the men’s side Steve Anderson was the top American in Shanghai but only the third best American in qualifying despite finishing seventh with a 705. Alex Wifler was best in qualifying with a 710 and Braden Gellenthien was sixth with a 707. Those three unsurprisingly had the top team qualifying score as well. Even Reo Wilde in 18th with a 696 had a strong qualifying shoot as all four Americans grabbed byes to the round of 32. Wifler and Gauvin will compete in the mixed team event after posting the top qualifying score.
Thursday the individual knockout rounds continue and narrow the fields down to the gold medal finalists and the bronze medal finalists. There will also be knockout rounds in the mixed team competitions to set up the finals in those events.
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