British compounders took gold and silver at the Hyundai Archery World Cup in Berlin today!
Gold went to Ella Gibson and James Mason in the mixed team competition. They beat Croatia 147-145, top seeds Colombia in a shoot-off and Italy 148-145. That left them facing Slovenia's Toja Ellison and Stas Modic in the gold medal showdown. And it was close - but the Britons gained a slight advantage and held on to win 156-155.
Â"It's fantastic, we've had a lot of bad luck in the mixed team in the last few years so it's great to get here, especially in the mixed team event. It's fantastic,” James told World Archery.
Ella was full of praise for James, who only missed the middle once in the 16-arrow final. Â"He helped me through shots and it was just really good,” she said. Â"Very nerve-wracking but I really enjoyed getting on the stage,” she said.
Britain's last compound World Cup circuit gold came courtesy of Nicky Hunt at the Shanghai stage in 2010.
It was Ella's second medal of the day. Earlier she, along with Susan Corless and Sarah Moon, took team silver. They defeated New Zealand 230-217 and Germany 227-221 to book a title showdown with Turkey. It was a hard-fought match but Yesim Bostan, Gizem Elmaagacli and Ipek Tomruk gradually edged ahead to secure gold with a 232-221 win.
But the squad was buoyant at its success. Â"Two medals today, which is something the compounds haven't achieved in some time,” said James. Â"Hopefully we can continue to win more going forward.”
You can find all the results here.
Picture: World Archery
