Las Vegas-USA, Feb 08, 2012: In Recurve Men, Olympic Champion GALIAZZO reaches a new final (ITA) will meet Jake KAMINSKI (USA) in the final. The American survived three shoot-offs.
In Recurve Women, the young Miranda LEEK (USA) will meet one of the greatest athletes all time in this category, Natalia VALEEVA (ITA). The Americans reached the final in Compound Men, but missed it in Compound Women. In juniors, bronze for Ukraine (2x), USA and Singapore!
The way of the 2004 Olympic Champion Marco GALIAZZO to the final was nothing but easy. He beat the always dangerous Mexican Juan Rene SERRANO in the first round 7 set points to 3 and then Hideki KIKUCHI (JPN) 6-4. The two archers were close to perfection, shooting one 9 each – but KIKUCHI also had a problem and shot a miss that turned out to be costly.
GALIAZZO then fought against the No. 2 seed Crispin DUENAS (CAN) – who previously had beaten the 2008 Olympic Champion Viktor RUBAN (UKR) 7-3. The Italo-canadian dual went to the limit: both archers shot a 10 in the shoot-off but GALIAZZO was closest to the centre.
He finally beat in the semifinal the surprise of the day: Heribert DORNHOFER (AUT). The Austrian had previously defeated Victor WUNDERLE (USA), Naoya ONIYAMA (JPN) and Michele FRANGILLI (ITA). The other semifinals featured an excitement-fuelled matchup between favourite Brady ELLISON (USA) and teammate Jake KAMINSKI (USA) that turned out to be anything but predictable.
KAMINSKI, who came from behind to take ELLISON to five sets, eventually won the matchup in a tiebreaker, shooting a ten to ELLISON’s nine. Kaminski will face GALIAZZO (ITA) for the gold, while ELLISON will shoot versus Heribert DORNHOFER (AUT) for the bronze.
“I feel great, I definitely had an uphill battle the entire day, so it’s definitely good to finally come out on top,” KAMINSKI said. When asked about the significance of competition with ELLISON particularly, he stated: “pretty much anyone would be excited about beating Brady, but I’ve done it numerous times, and I’m always confident going against Brady. It’s my friend up there, but still, once I step on that line of course he’s my enemy.
If he’s low on time, I’m still going to count down time for him just like I would for any other friend.”
Recurve Women
Miranda LEEK (USA), dubbed the “American archery thunderbolt” by sportswriter Alan ABRAHAMSON, proved she’s got what it takes to hang with the best of them today, as she clinched her spot in the gold medal final at the World Archery Indoor Championships.
Leek, who shot her way through matches versus Kristine ESEBUA (GEO) and Naomi FOLKARD (GBR), will meet Natalia VALEEVA (ITA), Olympic bronze medallist and multi-time world champion, in the final; Ksenia PEROVA (RUS) and FOLKARD will shoot for bronze. LEEK’s teammates, Jennifer NICHOLS (USA) and Brandi DELOACH (USA) retired after losses in the 1/8 and 1/16 respectively.
Recurve Junior Men
The No. 2 seed Vitaliy KOMONYUK (UKR) beat the No. 1 seed Heorhiy IVANYTSKYY (UKR) with four perfect sets, 6-2 (30-29, 30-28, 30-30, 30-30). But this was for bronze. They previously were beaten respectively by Luca MARAN (ITA) and Sjef VAN DEN BERG (NED) in semifinals.
The Italian beat KOMONYUK 7-3, while the Dutch defeated IVANYTSKYY in the shoot-off 6-5 (29-30, 30-30, 28-28, 30-30, 29-28, T10-T9).
Recurve Junior Women
Ariel GIBILARO (USA), the thirteenth seed, punched her ticket to the bronze medal match after taking three victories this afternoon.
Though she was unable to overcome Polina RODIONOVA (UKR), who took the bronze 6-4, GIBILARO expressed satisfaction with a fourth place World Championships finish in what was her first ever international tournament. Kristina TIMOFEEVA (RUS) will shoot for gold against Anastasia PAVLOVA (UKR) on Thursday in this category.
Compound Men
The compounds produced equally stunning results. On both the women’s and men’s sides, favorites were eliminated early in the matches, the most dramatic of which was Braden GELLENTHIEN’s (USA) exit in the 1/16th; the number one ranked archer was stopped in a tight 6-5 tiebreaker by the 32nd seeded Gerardo ALVARADO of Mexico, Reo WILDE (USA) knows how to shoot 10s when he needs it.
A last 10 during the semifinal shoot-off against Julio Ricardo FIERRO (MEX) took him to the gold final. In total, WILDE shot 11 perfect sets (30 points) to defeat excellent archers such as Martin DAMSBO (DEN), Reza ZAMANINEJAD (IRI), Sergio PAGNI (ITA) and FIERRO.
WILDE will meet another American in the final, Jimmy BUTTS. He is not so well known on the international scene but he defeated none the less than Kevin TATARYN (CAN) 6-4, the reigning outdoor world champion Christopher PERKINS (CAN) 6-5 (10-9 in the tie-break), Gerardo ALVAVADO (MEX) 7-3, and Guillaume RUBBEN (FRA) 6-4 in the semifinal.
Compound Women
The Americans were not so successful in this category. For instance, the 4-6 loss for number one world ranked Erika ANSCHUTZ (USA), who was unable to edge out Italy’s Laura LONGO in the 1/8 match. The No. 1 seed in the tournament, Christie COLIN (USA), was beaten in the semifinal by the young Inge VAN CASPEL (NED), seeded No. 13.
Previously the Dutch beat some excellent archers: Marcela TONIOLI (ITA) 6-4, Gladys WILLEMS (BEL) 6-5 (shoot-off: 10-9) and Natalia AVDEEVA (RUS) 6-4. The other semifinal was a thriller. Linda OCHOA (MEX) led Viktoria BALZHANOVA (RUS) 5-1. The Russian came back at 5-5 and hit the bull’s eye to prevail in the shoot-off. The Mexican was just two millimeters off!
Compound Junior Men
The seeds No. 1, 2, 3 and 5 made it to the semifinals. But the No. 5 upset the No. 1 and the No. 3 beat the No. 2. Rheinhard LOUW (RSA) upset Mike SCHLOESSER (NED) 6-2 (30-30, 30-29, 30-29, 29-29). Bridger DEATON (USA) defeated Garret ABERNETHY (USA) 6-4 (30.29, 30-28, 28-30, 29-29, 30-30). ABERNETHY won the bronze over SCHLOESSER 6-2 (30-29, 28-30, 30-29, 30-29).
Compound Junior Women
Contessa LOH brought a bronze medal to Singapore! She beat the Russian Mariia VINOGRADA in the shoot-off, 6-5 (28-29, 29-29, 29-29, 29-28, 28-28, T10*-T10). Team USA newcomer Lexi KELLER proved to be a force to reckon with, as the thirteenth ranked archer shot winning scores against four tough opponents to clinch her spot in the gold medal match versus Runa Grydeland (NOR).
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