Great Britain juniors bring home more medal at the live finals in Romania for the first leg of the 2022 European Youth Cup.
The very first match of the day saw teammate face teammate in this all GB compound under 18 women's bronze final. 1st ranked Patience Wood shot against 2nd ranked Hallie Bouton in the fight for the third place medal.
"It was hard shooting against Hallie since we are teammates, and I found myself rooting for her to shoot her absolute best whilst in the match. But it also made my first individual finals a lot more comfortable as I new she would support me through my nerves," Patience said.
The first end was tied on 29 each, and then Hallie took a one point lead on 58 to Patience's 57 after end two. Hallie dropped down to a 26, but Patience shot a 28 to switch the one point lead in her favour. In end four, Patience shot a 29 to Hallie's 28 to extend her advantage to two points. After the last end, Patience finished up on 141 to Hallie's 138 to take the win.
"I'm proud of myself because getting an individual medal is a goal I didn't think I'd reach for a long time. However, I know now that I can push myself to get that gold as long as I work hard. Hallie was the first person to congratulate me after we found out who had won, wrapping me in a hug and telling me how proud she was of me, which almost left me in tears. I have never felt so supported, and even though it meant she lost out on a medal we both agreed from the start that no matter who won that it was a win for the both of us," Patience continued.
Patience and Hallie's teammate, Sinead Byrne, was up next to shoot in the gold final for the compound under 18 women. 12th ranked Sinead faced the 6th ranked archer from France, Lea Girault. The archers were only a point apart after the first end, shooting a 26 for Girault and a 25 for Sinead. The French archer then shot a 29 to Sinead's 26, extending her lead by four points. Sinead then came back with a perfect 30 end to Girault's 29, narrowing the distance between the two of them to only three points difference. Girault then fought back for her lead, shooting a 27 to Sinead's 26, putting her on 111 to the Brit's 106. In the last end, a 26 from Sinead wasn't enough to overtake the French archer who shot a 28 to win the match 139-132.
"Going into the competition I was never expecting to go as far as I did in individuals. Coming home with a silver medal was overwhelming, and it has give me more confidence going into the championships on home ground!" Sinead said.
Compound Under 18 MenÂ
Next up was the compound men under 18 bronze final between GB's Jay Saunderson and Italy's Fabrizio Aloisi. Both archers opened up the match strong with a perfect 30 each. The 4th ranked Italian then shot a 27 to Jay's 28 to give Jay a one point lead. In the third end, the Italian dropped down to a 23 end, and a 27 from Jay meant that he further extended his lead to 85-80. With six arrow of the match left, Jay shot two 30s in a row and Aloisi shot two 28s in a row. Jay finished the match on 145 to the Italian's 136 to win the bronze medal.
Â"It feels unbelievable to finally see the results of the hard work my coaches, my family and I have put in to get this far. And it makes me happy to be able to bring a medal back home," Jay said.
The last individual finals at this event for GB was Jenny Bryan's match for the compound women's under 21 gold. She faced the 2nd ranked Croatian archer Lara Drobnjak. Jenny had a strong start, opening the head-to-head with a 30 to the Croatian's 27. In the second end, Jenny shot a 26 to Drobnjak's 28, but the Brit still kept a one point lead. Drobnjak came back with a 29 and then a 30 to Jenny's 27 and 28, bringing the match to 114-111 in the Croatian's favour. With three arrows to go each, the archer's shot 26 points apiece, meaning that Drobnjak took the gold with 14-137. Jenny will return home with silvers in both the individual, team and mixed team categories.
"It's fantastic to come home with a medal in all of the divisions possible. It's all still surreal and it hasn't quite hit me yet how well I've done. My teammates were true assets to GBR and I couldn't have asked for anyone better. You always go in wanting the gold medal, and to only just miss out on it can be a hard thing to accept. I know deep down I did myself and my team proud, and on my last year as a junior I definitely went out with a bang and the hard work paid off! The experience was great and so were the friends I made along the way. Just an awesome week and an even better result!" Jenny told us.
The final results list can be found here.
