A new world record is the main news for the sport today.
The main news for Colombia was produced by Sara LĂłpez, who with 139 points, defeated Russian Longinova and qualified to the semifinals. The athlete born in Risaralda (Colombia) has in her resume a world record in the 150X category, obtained in the last World Cup at MedellĂn. The other Colombian participant, Alejandra Usquiano, finished eliminated by her rival from the United States by a single point.
The session began with the men's 50m contest, round in which Italian Sergio Pigni was first with a total of 711 points that advanced him to the next round, followed by North-American Reo Wilde.
The men´s individual semifinals were defined after a hot and long day at the Acuaparque De La Caña water-park. The United States, represented once again by Reo Wilde, obtained the best score for this modality with a sum of 147 points, followed by German Titscher and Peter Elzingo, from The Netherlands, with 144 points.
As far as the individual contest in the women´s category, Erika Jones from the U.S.A. got first place rounding-off 704 points and breaking her personal record in the more effective of her two attempts at the 50 meter targets.
Tomorrow´s archery competitions are to be carried out at the former World Championship Skating rink, starting at 10 in the morning.
The United States dominated the compound competition today. In the mixed team event, top qualifiers Erika JONES and Reo WILDE were untouchable. They defeated Medellin runner-ups Camilla SOEMOD and Martin DAMSBO of Denmark in the semi-finals, 154-151. In the final, they challenged Italy's Marcella TONIOLI and Sergio PAGNI, world champions and winners of the last two World Cup stages.
Italy and the USA had met seven times over the last three years, and the USA won six times, but it was Italy who won their last encounter, in June in Antalya, by a large margin. However, Italy had difficulty finding the 10 at the start, whereas the United States were near perfect, starting with 80 points and dropping only 3 points in the second half. Victory 157-152 and first World Games gold medal for Erika JONES and Reo WILDE!
The bronze medal went to Germany, who easily overtook Denmark (154-149), thanks to a solid performance by Paul TITSCHER, who dropped only two points, and European champion Kristina BERGER.
The mixed team finals were followed by the individual semi-finals. JONES returned to the field to face crowd favourite Sara LOPEZ of Colombia. The American archer, who shot a new world record yesterday and placed second at both the Shanghai and Medellin World Cups, was on target for more gold. She trailed Antalya winner LOPEZ through the first three ends, but stole the lead in the fourth end. Even though LOPEZ forced a shoot-off, JONES outscored her 10-9 to advance to the gold medal match.
The second semi-final was between Ivana BUDEN (CRO) and Camilla SOEMOD (DEN). The Danish archer, who won their last five encounters, took a one-point lead from the start, and kept it until the end (143-142). She will meet Erika JONES for the gold, while BUDEN and LOPEZ will face off in the bronze medal match.
The first men's semi-final featured Roberto HERNANDEZ (ESA) and Pierre-Julien DELOCHE (FRA). They met only once in the past, at Ogden 2011, and the winner was DELOCHE. Today, HERNANDEZ started with 10-10-10 to take the lead, but DELOCHE came back with perfect scores in the third and fourth ends. With 28 points in the final end, he opened the door for HERNANDEZ, who needed a 9 to win. After two 10s, the Salvadorian archer shot… 8. Shoot-off! Both athletes delivered a 10 but with an arrow closer to the centre, DELOCHE advanced to the final. He will face world N°2 Reo WILDE, who scored 148 points to defeat Paul TITSCHER (GER) in the other semi-final.