At the fourth and final stage of the 2022 Hyundai World Cup in Medellin, Colombia, the live finals took place over the weekend where our GB women brought home yet more medals.
Along the riverside in the city of Medellin, the first match of the day was the compound women's team gold final. Ella Gibson, Izzy Carpenter, and Lizzie Foster from Great Britain faced the team from Colombia which comprised Sara Lopez, Alejandra Usquiano and Maria Valentina Suárez. After the first scoring end, the GB women were one point up, shooting a 57 to the Colombians' 56.
End two dipped down to a 56 for GB, and Colombia capitalised on this, shooting a 59 to take advantage in their favour with 115-113. GB stayed consistent with another 57 end, but their opponents' were slightly ahead with a 58 this time, further extending their lead by three points. Going into the final end, GB pulled back a good 58 end, but unfortunately, it wasn't enough to beat the Colombians' 59. The match finished in the favour of the home archers with 232-228, meaning the GB women brought home the silver.
Out of the three World Cups that the compound women attended in 2022, they have come back with a team medal at two out of the three tournaments. They will finish the year in third place in the compound women's team world rankings.
"The atmosphere was electric. Having a Columbian home crowd when we were shooting against Columbia was a unique experience, even if the rain made it feel like we were back at home! The result of the match still shows that despite we are number three in the world as a team there is still work to do to make the team even stronger. This is the second team gold match for me personally, second silver, which just means twice as much work to do going forward," Lizzie Foster said.
Â"We are really proud of the performances from the Women this week in Medellin. The compound women did brilliantly to bring home a silver medal again, this time with a new trio of Ella, Lizzie and Izzy. It was always going to be a tough match against the Colombians and a partisan crowd, but to win a 3rd team medal from three World Cups and Europeans that they have been to this year is brilliant,” Tom Duggan, Team Manager, said.
In the afternoon, Ella Gibson competed in the first compound women's semi-final match where she faced Sara Lopez from Colombia. The atmosphere in the stands was electric for this match against the home-favourite Lopez. The women started off in style, both shooting a 30 in the opening end.
Ella then took a one-point lead after end two, shooting another 30 to Lopez's 29. In end three, Ella dropped a 29 end in, however, Lopez shot a 28, further extending Ella's lead by two points. Ella shot another 30 in the fourth end to Lopez's 29, extending her advantage by another point going into the final three arrows. Lopez came back to finish with a 30, but it was only enough to bring back one point. Ella took the win and her place in the gold medal match with 148 points to 146.
"I was super nervous going into the semi-final against Lopez, but I took the approach to just focus on myself, shoot my game, and if she outshot me then she could win. But I just wanted to stay at my level and not allow nerves to drop that," Ella Gibson told us,
For the gold medal, 1st ranked Ella Gibson faced 2nd ranked Dafne Quintero from Mexico. Both women opened up strong, shooting 30 points apiece. In both end two and end three, the archers matched each other arrow for arrow, scoring two 29s in a row, bringing the points all square on 88. In end four, Quintero dropped three 9s to give her a 27 to Ella's 30, giving Ella a three-point lead.
With one end to go, Ella finished on a 29 to the Mexican's 9, 9, 8, concluding the match on 147-141. Ella has brought home her third World Cup win of the 2022 outdoor season.
"It feels incredible to win another world cup this year, I didn't expect to win one never mind three, and I can't wait to see what the future holds. This has been a really great year for the whole GB team and I hope we can keep that momentum going next year. I'm hoping for a women's team gold medal and some more mixed team medals from us. I truly think we all have the potential to climb the rankings as a country and I am beyond proud and honoured to be a part of that," Ella Gibson said.
Â"Ella's performance to win her 3rd World Cup gold medal was outstanding. We knew she had the tougher semi-final against Sara Lopez, they had both shot especially well in the team final in the morning. Ella kept the pressure on Sara and gave herself the opportunity in the final. She then backed it up and her consistency was too much for her Dafne,” Tom Duggan continued.
Beginning the events of the next day was the recurve women's team gold medal match. Great Britain's Bryony Pitman, Penny Healey, and Jaspreet Sagoo competed against Korea's San An, Chae Young Kang, and Gahyun Lee. After the opening end, the 1st ranked Korean team shot a 55 to GB's 52 earning the first lot of set points, 2-0. Once again for the second end, both teams were shooting very consistently. Korea shot another 55 and GB another 52, Korea taking the set points to bring their lead to 4-0. GB raised their end score to a 53 after the next six arrows, however, Korea shot a 56 end which was enough to take the set points to 6-0. The GB women have come home with their second team medal of the 2022 World Cup season, this time with silver.
Â"I found the finals venue amazing to be on. The atmosphere that was created by ourselves, the coaches, and our teammates there was very positive and it was so much fun. We shot well as a team, it was nice to come away from the last world cup with a medal and I can't wait to see what next season brings,” Penny Healey said.
"The finals were great. It was strange being on a finals stage and not really able to see the spectators, but we could definitely hear our teammates cheering and we were still able to give each other energy and be happy and positive throughout the match! We've had a good season and it was great to bring home another team medal at our second World Cup together. We're still learning how to get the best out of each other and I'm excited to see what the team can do next year," Bryony Pitman said.
Â"On the recurve side, the women once again showed their emerging potential by getting into the gold medal match against the Koreans. We'd been looking forward to this match as we'd won the World Cup that the Koreans weren't at in Antalya so wanted to test ourselves against them. The Koreans showed their pedigree and the women will have taken a lot from the experience,” Tom Duggan added.
Â"Overall, it's been a really positive international season and we said all along we wanted to use it as a platform and see where we were. We know this season means nothing if we don't progress again next year,” Tom Duggan said.
