The most disappointing group of archers on Thursday had clearly been the men’s compound group from the US. Despite all finishing in the top 11 of qualifying not a single one advanced even as far as the quarterfinals. With a chance to move on from that and have some success as a team on Friday the trio of Alex Wifler, Steve Anderson, and Reo Wilde shot the highest scores of each round and advanced to Saturday’s gold medal final. The first round wasn’t close as the US easily outpointed #16 seed Hong Kong 236-220 but the quarterfinals and semifinals were much closer battles with the US advancing by two points over #8 Turkey 235-233 and by a single point over #12 Australia 232-231. The US opponent in the final will be #10 Iran who upset #2 Netherlands in a tiebreaker after tying them at 232 in the semifinals.

The other teams for the US didn’t have much success on Friday. The men’s recurve team of Zach Garrett, Brady Ellison, and Jacob Wukie were the #1 seed and beat #16 Canada 5-3 to open but were upset by #9 Great Britain 5-1 in the quarterfinals. The women’s recurve team of Khatuna Lorig, La Nola Pritchard, and Mackenzie Brown were the #13 seed and didn’t fare well getting shutout 6-0 by #4 India. The women’s compound team of Crystal Gauvin,  Danielle Reynolds, and Dahlia Crook were also in a #4-#13 match but as the favorite against Turkey. Things didn’t turn out well for the US though as Turkey pulled a 231-225 upset.

Saturday is the compound finals and the only US participants will be the men’s team in the gold medal final.

Previous Archery World Cup Shanghai Coverage:
Preview
Day 1 Update
Day 2 Update

While he wasn’t the top qualifier from the US on Wednesday in the men’s recurve Zach Garrett was still in the top ten. When it came time for the knockout portion of the competition on Thursday though Garrett shown as brightly as anyone. The #9 seed cruised through the competition with 6-0, 6-2, and 6-0 wins to reach the round of 16. He faced good competition there in #8 seed Plihon Pierre of France but was dominant again with a 6-0 win. After a 6-0 win over Xuesong Gu he finally got a really tough match against Chun-Heng Wei of Chinese Taipei which he just barely advanced from 6-5 to reach Sunday’s final. His opponent will be #2 seed Sjef Van Den Berg of the Netherlands. The other Americans didn’t last long in the competition as two of the three lost in their first match. Brady Ellison was the #1 seed but got upset in his first match 7-3 by #33 seed Arsalan Baldanov of Russia. #39 Sean McLaughlin met a similar fate getting upset by #74 Fatih Bozlar of Turkey while #37 Jacob Wukie did open with a 6-4 win before losing 6-0 to #28 Larry Godfrey of Great Britain.

In women’s recurve Khatuna Lorig was also upset in her first match after a bye to open, 6-4 by #53 Ariuna Zhargalova of Russia. La Nola Pritchard did a bit better with 6-2 and 6-0 wins before a 6-2 loss to #3 Lisa Unruhof Germany. 35th with a 645. Mackenzie Brown and Ariel Gibilaro both lost in the opening round with #64 Brown losing to #49 Randi Degn of Denmark 6-2 while #72 Gibilaro lost 6-0 against #41 Hui Cao of China.

Crystal Gauvin went on a nice little run advancing 149-144 and 146-141 before meeting Mexican #7 Linda Ochoa-Anderson in an all-North American quarterfinal. After a very close match Ochoa-Anderson emerged 147-146 and eliminated Gauvin. #16 Danielle Reynolds had two close matches on the day defeating #64 Suvaporn Anutaraporn of Thailand 140-139 before losing to #17 Toja Cerne of Slovenia 146-144. Dahlia Crook and Lexi Keller both had first round byes but lost in their first matches. #37 Crook was defeated by #28 Stephanie Sarai Salinas of Mexico 141-137 while #44 Keller lost 144-133 to #21 Kim Yun-Hee of Korea.

Finally things were a bit disappointing in the men’s compound as the US had all four of their archers in the top 11 but didn’t advance one to the quarterfinals. #3 Alex Wifler lost in his opening match against #30 Demir Elmaagacli of Turkey when they tied 148-148 and Wifler lost the tiebreaker. Advancing a bit farther was #4 Steve Anderson who won his opener 145-143 but lost to #13 Patrick Laursen of Denmark 148-143. #5 Reo Wilde met the same fate as Wifler as he lost his first match to #28 Mohd Juwaidi Mazuki of Malaysia 149-145. Losing in his first match as well was #11 Braden Gellenthien to #59 Buden Domagoj of Great Britain on a tiebreaker after they tied at 145.

Friday will be the knockout rounds of the men’s and women’s team competitions and a chance for redemption for the men’s compound archers.

Previous Archery World Cup Shanghai Coverage:
Preview
Day 1 Update

After strong rounds of qualification for most of the US archers in Shanghai the attention quickly turned to the mixed team events. On the recurve side the two athletes competing for the US were Brady Ellison and Khatuna Lorig and they were seeded #2 based on their qualification round scores. The US cruised on Wednesday through the rounds of competition defeating Australia 6-2 before consecutive shutouts 6-0 of both Denmark and Korea. The US advanced to the final where they will take on #4 seed Chinese Taipei. Chinese Taipei upset #1 seed India 5-3 to reach the final. The gold medal match will not take place until Sunday. The compound team of Crystal Gauvin and Alex Wifler had the better seed as they were ranked first in qualification but were upset in the first round by #16 seed Malaysia 153-151. Malaysia did continue to shoot well and reached the semifinals before being defeated by #4 seed Colombia.

In men’s recurve Ellison had the top individual score in qualification with a 697, ten better than his closest competitor. Zach Garrett made it two Americans in the top ten with a ninth place 672. Jacob Wukie was 37th with a 663 while Sean McLaughlin shot a 662 in 39th. The top three (Ellison, Garrett, Wukie) were the top scoring team, 15 ahead of the Netherlands, and earned the #1 seed for the team competition. The US will have a neighborly match with Canada to start things off before taking on the Australia/Great Britain winner in the next round. Their first non-English speaking opponent would be in the semifinals where #4 Chinese Taipei and #5 Korea are the most likely matchups. The US beat both Canada and Australia as the advanced to the semifinals at the world championships last year. In the individual competition Ellison has a bye to the round of 32 while Garrett just missed out on the final double-bye and starts in round one with the lowest ranked competitor, Chun Ngai So of Hong Kong. Wukie will face Majid Mirrahimi of Iran and McLaughlin takes on Fatih Bozlar of Turkey.

In women’s recurve Lorig was 12th in qualifying with a 656 with the next American La Nola Pritchard in 35th with a 645. Mackenzie Brown completed the team score with a 64th place 620 while Ariel Gibilaro shot a 613, good for 72nd. In this event the field is not as large so Lorig did receive a first round bye in 12th place. Pritchard takes on Maira Alejandra Sepulveda of Colombia in the first round while Brown faces off with Randi Degn of Denmark. Finally Gibilaro is matched up against Hui Cao of China. While the US didn’t have a great qualification score for the team recurve event they still qualified in 13th place and will start the knockout rounds by taking on #4 seed India. India was the silver medalist at the world championships so they will be a big challenge for the US.

In the women’s compound event Gauvin was as good as expected with a second-best 705. Danielle Reynolds also had a good day for the US with a 16th place score of 691. Those two will be joined in the team event by Dahlia Crook who shot a 680 and placed 37th. Lexi Keller was not far behind in 44th with a 677. Due to a field of just 68 all four US women received byes for the first round and Gauvin has a bye to the round of 32. While Gauvin and Reynolds don’t know their first opponents yet Crook will meet Stephanie Sarai Salinas of Mexico in the round of 64 while Keller faces Kim Yun-Hee of Korea. Kim was the world champion last year so that’s quite the tough draw for Keller. The team was seeded fourth and will take on #13 Turkey in round one. The #1 seed that the US could end up facing is Korea and Kim Yun-Hee.

Nothing in qualification was as impressive as the dominance by the US archers in the men’s compound. The US had three of the top five and four of the top 11. The US went 3-4-5 with just a point separating each spot. Alex Wifler was the top one with a 712 while Steve Anderson notched a 711 and Reo Wilde a 710. Braden Gellenthien would have been the top scorer from all but six countries but he won’t even make the team competition with an 11th place 707. The US team is, unsurprisingly, seeded first. What is perhaps a surprise is that they only topped the Netherlands by three points for that spot. The first matchup for the US is #16 seed Hong Kong with South Africa and Turkey the possible opponents in round two. Korea or Russia would be the most likely semifinal opponents. With just 79 individuals competing the bracket is full of byes for the US archers. The top three have byes through to the round of 32 while Gellenthien only has a bye for the first round. None of the four know yet who their first opponent will be.

Thursday’s competition will be only on the individual side with the finalists being determined in each of the four events.

Previous Archery World Cup Shanghai Coverage:
Preview

The first of three Archery World Cup stages this year is in Shanghai starting on Wednesday and running until Sunday. The US has 16 athletes competing and with 10 events to contest it will be a busy few days. The action beings on Wednesday when the qualification rounds will take place and the round of 16, quarterfinals, and semifinals of the mixed team matches wrap up the day.

The US team in Shanghai is full of experienced competitors. In the men’s recurve the US has Brady Ellison (quarterfinals at world championships), Zach Garrett, Sean McLaughlin, and Jacob Wukie. On the women’s recurve side Khatuna Lorig was the top finisher at the world championships in the round of 16 and she is joined here by Mackenzie Brown, Ariel Gibilaro, and La Nola Pritchard. The best US finisher from those world championships was Crystal Gauvin, the runner-up in the women’s compound, and here in Shanghai the team also contains Dahlia Crook, Lexi Keller, and Danielle Reynolds. Finally in the men’s compound the US will feature Steve Anderson, Braden Gellenthien, Alex Wifler, and Reo Wilde.

In the mixed team events the US qualified for the elimination rounds in both events in the world championships but only advanced, and to the quarterfinals at that, in the compound event. We shall see how they do (assuming they qualify) tomorrow.