The second stage of the World Indoor Series at the GT Open in Strassen, Luxembourg, saw Ella Gibson, Tom Hall, and Thomas Lane come home with two silver and one bronze medals.
Luxembourg played host to the second of the four Indoor World Series stages, naming the new GT Open champions. World number one compound woman, Ella Gibson, attended the event following her recent crowning at the Kings of Archery tournament in the Netherlands. She ranked in 1st position with 595 points before moving through the head-to-head rounds. She narrowly missed out on the gold, losing by one point 147-148, in the finals against Paige Pierce from the USA.
Ella said: “I'm really happy with all my shooting this weekend, and I felt like I scored at a consistent, high level. Of course I'm a bit disappointed on not winning gold, but back to back medals at the first two big indoor events is a great start for me, especially with my new bow. I'm really excited for the rest of the season.”
On the recurve side, GB’s Tom Hall also won a silver medal in the recurve men’s category. After ranking in 25th position, Tom had a battle of head-to-head matches in order to take him through to the gold final. After winning against his first opponent by shooting not one but two matches, in the second round he faced fellow Brit and recent Kings of Archery champion, Patrick Huston, whom he defeated in another shoot-off. Next up he had a match against the recurve legend, Brady Ellison, beating the American 6-2 to move through to the semi-finals. In the fight for gold, Tom was unfortunately pipped to the win by Netherland’s shooter Steve Wijler.
Tom said: “I just took it one match, one moment at a time. This was the fifth time I've shot against Brady but the first time I've beaten him, so it's been a long time coming. I'm really happy with the silver. I wasn't planning on doing this tournament originally, so I'm really glad that I made the decision to shoot.”
In the under 21 compound men’s division, Thomas Lane shot his way to the bronze medal match. He ranked in 3rd place with 582 points, sending him into the 1/8 round. He won his first two matches with points to spare, and in the semi-finals he was narrowly defeated by France’s Victor Bouleau, 149-147. In the bronze final, Thomas and his opponent, Batuhan Levent Saglam from Turkiye, were tied going into the final end on 117 apiece. A perfect 30 from Tom with his last three arrows secured him the bronze medal.
Thomas said: "Winning my first international medal has really given me a big boost in confidence and proven that all the effort and time I’ve put into my shooting is paying off. And I’ve shown myself I can hold my own in high pressure situations."
Find all the scores from the event on Ianseo.
