Paris, Sept 22, 2013: Cup golden, The Danish archer concludes a very successful World Cup season with the World Cup Final title, for the first time of his career.
Martin DAMSBO’s journey to the gold medal started with a quarter-final against teammate Patrick LAURSEN, who had defeated him on his way to the gold at the Antalya World Cup earlier this year. Thanks to a perfect first end, DAMSBO took a two-point advantage which gave him the win (143-141).
In the semi-finals, DAMSBO faced local archer Dominique GENET, who had upset the legendary world N°1 Reo WILDE (USA) in the previous round. In their first encounter in outdoor archery, DAMSBO scored two ends of 30 points each, dropping only 3 points overall for a convincing victory, 147-143.
DAMSBO shot for his first World Cup Final individual gold medal against an archer he knows well, and who has an impressive track record in the World Cup: Braden GELLENTHIEN (USA). Winner of the Tokyo World Cup Final last year after settling for three silvers in 2007, 2009 and 2010, the American archer had qualified for this match after a quarter-final success over MIN Lihong, the first Korean man to compete in compound at the World Cup Final, followed by a semi-final revenge over Sergio PAGNI (ITA), who deprived him of the World Cup Final gold medal in 2009 and 2010.
Between DAMSBO and GELLENTHIEN, it was the third encounter of the year. GELLENTHIEN won the final at the Shanghai World Cup, while DAMSBO won the bronze medal match at the Antalya World Cup. Previously, they had met once, at the final of the Antalya World Cup in 2010, which DAMSBO won.
Today, they played a very tight match, in which they tied each other arrow by arrow during the first three ends. After holding a one-point lead for a short time, DAMSBO found himself in the position of needing a final 10 to tie GELLENTHIEN in the end, and force a shoot-off. He did it, and when the American archer opened the door with a 9 in the shoot-off, DAMSBO didn’t let up. With a perfect 10, he achieved his first individual victory on the big stage since Antalya 2010. It is also his first individual podium at the World Cup Final in three participation. Following a successful 2013 season, where he was 2nd in Shanghai, 3rd in Antalya individually and 1st in the team event, and 5th at the World Games, DAMSBO can now dream big towards the upcoming World Championships, an event in which his best career result is an individual bronze medal in 2007.
Braden GELLENTHIEN wins his fifth World Cup Final medal in as many participation. Even though he settles for his fourth World Cup Final silver, the 27-year-old American can console himself with the Longines Prize for Precision, rewarding the compound archer who has shot the most 10s over the whole World Cup season.
Finally, the bronze medal was disputed between Sergio PAGNI and Dominique GENET. It was the rematch of an epic semi-final that took place at the Wroclaw World Cup last month, where both men scored only 10s on the fifteen arrows and the shoot-off arrow. At the time, the winner was PAGNI with a shoot-off arrow closer to the centre than GENET’s. Today, the French archer had more difficulty finding the 10, while PAGNI was delivering one 10 after another. The Italian archer, the only compound archer to have won the World Cup Final twice, scored 147 against 142 to win the bronze medal. —- World Archery Communication
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