Dutch archer Steve Wijler capped an incredible four finals at the Lausanne Invitational with a perfect four sets – and 12 arrows in the 10-ring – to beat reigning Indoor Archery World Series Champion Florian Unruh for the recurve men’s title.
Wijler joined Lisa Barbelin, Mike Schloesser and Erika Damsbo atop the podium.
“I don’t think I’ve been this nervous in about 10 years,” Wijler said after his victory. “I was really, really shaking. I’m really happy to be back, and I’ve got the sense for more.”
The top-ranked archer heading into the second stage of this international circuit, Felix Wieser, took recurve men’s bronze with a victory over Thomas Chirault.
Chirault was the top seed, having shot 596 out of a possible 600 points for the 60-arrow 18-metre round in qualifying.
The recurve women’s event in Lausanne featured a high qualifier from France. Twenty-year-old Lisa Barbelin posted an impressive 591 and eventually found herself facing Gaby Schloesser in the final. Schloesser won the first invitational, during November, in Wohlen.
Danish married couple Erika and Martin Damsbo contested the compound title matches. Erika was up first, against surprise Swiss finalist and sixth seed Clementine de Giuli.
“We both looked at each other and thought it was a shoot-off, so it was a bit of a surprise, actually,” said Damsbo. “It’s so amazing to stand on the line and feel like your whole body is shaking and you’re there going, I’d completely forgotten what this was like.
“To come here and do this after such a long break, it was really amazing.”
“Of course I wanted to shoot that perfect 150,” said world number two, Mike, who added that he’d need a couple more tournaments to return to competition shape. “That last arrow, the beginning was not good enough, and there’s not enough time to redo it, so I just battled through it.”
All four winners received a watch courtesy of World Archery’s timekeeping partner, Longines.
The Lausanne Invitational coincided with the second remote stage of the 2021 Indoor Archery World Series. More than 5000 archers worldwide registered to participate.
Initial results for the remote event are expected on Tuesday, with results finalised two weeks after the competition, following checks of the results lists, target faces and scorecards submitted as evidence.
At the moment, these are the provisional leaders:
Recurve Men: Bradi ELLISON (598)
Recurve Women: WI Nayeon (596)
Compound Men: Dave COUSINS (600!)
Compound Women: Bayley SARGEANT (595)
Barebow Men: Erik JONSSON (577)
Barebow Women: Lina BJORKLUND (554)
The third stage of the Indoor Archery World Series is scheduled for 15-17 January 2021. It is likely to be accompanied by another invitational following the one-week delay of the Sud de France – Nimes Archery Tournament.