TERNI, IT - The second and final day of qualifications at the World Archery 3D Championships have come to an end. Canadians, both male and female, shot in four different bow categories.
Six archers from Canada shot in the compound category at the competition.
Blair St. Amant shot a score of 867 and landed in the 46th spot in the standings. Joe Sarrazin placed right after his teammate in the 47th place, with a score of 820.
Leon Laffin rounded out the team in the men’s division, with a qualification of 49th and a score of 779. None of the male compound archers from Canada will move forward into the elimination round, as only the top 22 archers advanced.
Monica Higgins was the highest ranked Canadian female compound archer; shooting over the last two days has resulted in her score of 866 and her 16th place standing. She will compete against Brenda Gonzalez from Mexico in the first pool match on September 8 at 2:15 pm CEST.
April Willis shot her score of 855, which landed her in 20th place. Her first match will be against American Lea Jarrett at the same time as her teammate’s match.
Andrea Wiens was not far behind with a 22nd place qualification and 847 points. The match against Alba María Guerrero Sancherz from Spain will also take place at 2:15 pm CEST on Thursday.
The barebow category showcased the performances of three Canadian archers, all male.
William “Alex” Melnik was the highest ranking Canadian in the entire competition. He shot a strong score of 868 and earned the 3rd spot in standings. Melnik will not shoot until Sept. 8 at 4:30 pm CEST, as he must await the results of three prior matches to determine who his opponent will be.
Jovica Djukic shot a score of 783, which earned him a 20th place. He moves on to face Matteo Seghetta (Italy) in the first round on Sept. 8 at 2:15 pm CEST.
Billy Sanderson shot a 652, which meant that he landed in the 43rd spot. Unfortunately, Sanderson will not advance into the next round as the top 22 archers were slated to move on.
In the longbow division, there were four archers from Canada. Fred Streleoff totaled a score of 644 and earned a 24th spot.
Greg “Bud” Dettling landed in the 38th qualification spot and shot a combined score of 581 over the two days of shooting.
Jaize Tostyniuk is the final archer in the category; he shot a 505 and landed in 46th place.
The top 22 archers advanced into the elimination rounds, which meant that no Canadian males moved on.
Miranda Sparkes was the sole Canadian woman in the longbow category. She landed close to the middle of the pack, with a 16th place qualification and 528 points. Sparkes will shoot off against Slovenian Irena Mavric Plesko in her first match on September 8 at 9:15 am CEST.
Moving over to the final division, three male and one female shooters represented Canada with a traditional bow.
Marc Britton shot arrows to a combined total of 771, which earned him the 15th place. He moves on to shoot against Ola Klaapbakken from Norway to also shoot at 9:15 am CEST on Thursday.
The second archer in the category is Gentian Zoto, who shot a score of 656; this meant that he qualified in the 41st spot.
Brad Hackewich scored 541 points and was in the 50th-qualified place. Unfortunately, neither Zoto or Hackewich will move on to the elimination rounds.
Trudy Dryden, the one female in this division, earned herself the 9th spot in the qualification rankings with a score of 662. Her first match opponent will be determined by two prior matches. She will shoot at 10:45 am CEST on Sep. 8.
Over in the team competition, the Canadian men’s team of Melnik, St. Amant, and Streleoff totaled a score of 2379 and the 10th spot.
On the women’s side (Dryden, Higgins, Sparkes), Canada combined for a qualifying score of 2056, landing them in 9th.
The compound mixed team of Higgins and St. Amant ended up in 10th place with a total score of 1733.
Canada has qualified in the 10th place in the mixed longbow team division, with the combined score of 1172 from Sparkes and Streleoff. The final team standings saw Dryden and Britton as the traditional mixed team, with a final score of 1433 in the 6th spot.
Unfortunately, none of the Canadian teams will advance into the elimination rounds.
“Today was the last qualification round,” says Rene Schaub, team manager. “Most archers shot better than their first qualification round. The courses were difficult with steep hills and +34 degrees, which made it challenging. All the archers came back on a positive note. Tomorrow is all the team events so Team Canada will be taking a well-deserved rest.”
Each elimination round will consist of shooting 1 arrow each at 4 targets. The first- and second-placed archers in each category jump straight to the semifinals. All other archers who qualify for the eliminations are placed in pools based on their ranking. The higher the score and the ranking of the archer, the fewer rounds they have to shoot. The winners of each pool will face off against each other in the quarterfinals. The winners of those matches will go on to face the 1st- and 2nd- placed athletes in the semifinals. After that, the winners of each semi-final will face off for the gold, while the other two will shoot for bronze.
The Canadians will have a day off, since the team matches are taking place tomorrow, Wednesday, Sept. 7. Individual elimination rounds will begin on Thursday.
To see all the scores and match results going forward, click here: https://info.ianseo.net/
