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2017
your best year ever Make 2017 your best year ever: How to set the right goals Build shooting strength
quick-fire interview with
Sarah Sonnichsen
ATA trade show specia l N ew release s from Ho y Mathews, Prime, PS t, E, Elite, and W&W Industry e xperts Q&A
Sarah talks bows, bad days and big brothers
Science behind the clicker Why it works
Plus:
Indoor World Cups Combined Indoor Weekend Archery stories, news and information from great Britain and across the world
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contents
Contents 6 News
The latest news from around the archery world
9 The Cup kicks off
The Indoor World Cup gets underway in Morocco, as Brady Ellison, Bryony Pitman, Stephan Hansen and Danelle Wentzel claim the first wins
13 The Thailand Trip
Bangkok plays host to stage two of the Indoor World Cup, in which Korea’s recurve teams make an impact
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16 Back2Back – Back and bigger
The round-robin shoot returned with a new group stage this year, making it a gruelling challenge of stamina and focus, as well as accuracy
19 Indoor Nationals
All the results from the Archery GB National Championships over the Combined Indoor Weekend
23 International Archery Centre
World Archery’s Swiss training centre is finished – John Stanley checks out the facilities at the opening ceremony and shoot
26 New Year’s Resolutions
Duncan Busby reveals now is the perfect time to start looking at what you want to achieve in 2017 – and how to go about making it happen
31 Sarah’s Super Sixteen
31
Sarah Holst Sonnichsen of Denmark made a big impact on the target world in 2016, and she takes on our quick-fire interview
34 PaderBow Archery Expo
Jan Sachers visits a small but growing archery exhibition and trade show in Germany
36 Subscribe today …
…and never miss an issue!
39 The Science Behind the Clicker
Craig Johnson delves into what makes a clicker work
43 Patrick’s Past Year
Patrick Huston sits down with Sophie Meering to reflect on what the year containing his first senior outdoor medal and first Olympic Games has taught him
47 Early days
34
Just got a new bow? Don’t worry too much about the tuning, says Andrew Smith, at this stage your time is better spent practicing
51 Shooting Strength
Personal trainer and pro archer Lucy O’Sullivan takes us through the basics of what it means to be archery fit – and how you can improve your fitness to benefit your shooting
55 Best of the ATA
Our pick of the new releases and items of interest we spotted at the ATA show
61 Ask The Experts
Industry experts tackle some common queries
64 Competition
Win a Mathews Halon X!
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39
Reflection and Renewal T
he beginning of the year is often thought of as a time of reflection and renewal; the old year has just gone and the new one is still full of potential and promise. As archers, the indoor season is often less intense than the outdoor one, so it’s a great time to step back a little, reflect on what went well last year and the goals you’d like to set this year, as well as have a play with some new equipment and work through any form changes – or simply take a well-earned break. Speaking of new equipment, we’ve had a good look at some of the newest gear just out and some of the things we can expect to hit the market later this year at the ATA Show in the USA, and we don’t think you’ll be disappointed. There is a great sense of buoyancy and expectation in the industry at the moment – everyone is looking forward to what 2017 will bring and is excited to be bringing new products to the market. There’s plenty to get excited about too, with major new compound releases from Hoyt, Mathews, Prime, PSE and Elite, whole new recurve setups available from Hoyt and Win&Win, all types
of accessories – and there’s more to come, with several companies looking to release new items in the middle of the year. Check out our feature on page 55 for our selection! As well as new gear, plenty of archers use this time of year to focus on themselves, their shooting and their goals. If working on your fitness was a new year’s resolution, we’re proud to welcome Lucy O’Sullivan to the Bow International team with some great advice on tying fitness into your archery on page 51, while Duncan Busby breaks down the goal-setting process he uses and outlines some alternative things to aim for if you want to do something other than chasing scores. Patrick Huston and Sarah Sonnichsen also reflect on their 2016 seasons, and pass on the advice they’ve learned. We’re looking forward to a great shooting 2017 – why not let us know what you’re looking forward to as well? You can get in touch on Twitter @BowMagazine, or on our Facebook page.
Good shooting, Nicola
Bow International Issue 113 Front Cover Sarah Sonnichsen Photography Dean Alberga
find us on... www.facebook.com /BowInternational twitter @BowMagazine
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The team Editor Nicola Turner art Editor Matt smith Art director Chris Sweeney Advertising sales Kirsty Reeves Kirsty.Reeves@futurenet.com T: 01225 684267 Correspondence Future Publishing, Lawrence House, Morrell Street, Leamington Spa, Warwickshire, CV32 5SZ Production Head of production UK & US Mark Constance Production controller Nola Cokely Management Managing director, magazines Joe McEvoy Editorial director, field sports Paul Newman Group managing Editor Colin Fallon Group art director Rodney Dive Licensing Senior licensing and syndication manager Matt Ellis Matt.Ellis@futurenet.com +44 (0)1225 442244 Distributed by Marketforce (UK), 2nd Floor, 5 Churchill Place, Canary Wharf, London, E14 5HU Contributors Duncan Busby, James Carr, Craig Johnson, Sophie Meering, Lucy O'Sullivan, Jan Sachers, Andrew Smith, John Stanley
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New year honours for archery medallists
Three of Archery GB’s Paralympic medal winners have been named in 2017’s new year honours list. Jess Strettion, Jo Frith and John Walker, who all won gold medals at the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games, have been awarded as Members of the Order of the British Empire for services to archery. The MBE winners brought home five medals from Rio between them; John Walker picking up gold in men’s W1 and W1 mixed team events alongside Jo Frith, who also won silver in the women’s W1 category behind Jess Stretton.
National Series entry dates
The dates for the 2017 National Series have been released. It will feature a staggered entry system, in which the top 30 ranked archers from 2016 in each division can apply for early spots before the remaining places go on general sale. A waiting list will be run for anyone who doesn’t get a place straight away, and any cancelled places will be resold to those on the waiting list. The stages for 2017 have been announced as: – Stages 1 and 2: Evesham Archery Club on 20-21 May – Stages 2 and 3: Surrey Archery Weekend on 8-9 July – Stages 5 and 6: Bronte Archers on 29-30 July – Final: 23-24 September (venue TBC) The entry dates for each stage are as follows: – Stages 1 and 2: Top 30 23 January. Open entry from 6pm on 30 January – Stages 3 and 4: Top 30 1 March. Open entry from 6pm on 8 March. – Stages 5 and 6: Top 30 15 March. Open entry from 6pm on 22 March.
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Open division debut The Vegas Shoot is hosting an open division for the first time in the event’s history. The new division, which will be open for men and women shooting in the compound championships class to enter to compete directly against each other, already has a high-profile backer – world number one and multiple world-record holder Sara Lopez has announced her intention to enter it and compete for the $51,000 prize fund. She told World Archery, “I have always wanted to face a challenge this big and prove to myself that I’m capable of great things. I’m not doing this to prove something to other people, I just want to see what I’m capable of.” NFAA president Bruce Cull, who runs the event, added in a comment to World Archery that gender is not a boundary in archery and he hopes creating the open division will empower more female
shooters to take advantage of that and go for the big prize. The Vegas Shoot and fourth stage of the Indoor World Cup will be held in Las Vegas, USA, between 10-12 February.
Schloesser up for award Mike Schloesser has been nominated for the World Games Association ‘Athlete of the Year’ award. The only person to achieve a perfect 600 score on the 18m indoor round (earning him the nickname ‘Mr Perfect’) in 2015, he followed that up in 2016 by setting another record for the outdoor 50m round and then winning the World Cup Finals for the first time. 16 athletes or teams are nominated for the award, and it’s the fourth time the World Games Association has run an award for Athlete of the Year, and the second time an archer has made the shortlist – Sara Lopez was a candidate in 2016. The winner of the award will be revealed on 1 February.
Archery legacy
Archery loses Olympic funding
The legacy project ‘Archery in Notts’, created as part of the European Archery Championship in Nottingham in May 2016, has been nominated for Nottinghamshire Sports Awards Sporting Project of the Year. Led by archer Amy Curnock, the project has aimed to create more opportunities for people to get involved in archery in the Nottinghamshire area, and some of its successes include: delivering archery to 230 individuals from non-sporting community groups; giving 7,000 people a taste of archery at have-a-go ranges at local events; and bringing archery to leisure centres and schools. The winner will be announced on 1 February, and for a complete list of the project’s work and achievements, check out http://www.archerygb.org/news/7533.php#. WHyuccZhOfQ.
Archery was announced as one of five sports that will lose all UK Sport funding for the next Olympic Games. Fencing, badminton, weightlifting and wheelchair rugby are the other sports to have had their funding cut to nothing. UK Sport will be investing slightly less overall in Olympic and Paralympic sport for the next four-year cycle, and a statement from CEO Liz Nicholl said the funding body had to “prioritise to protect and enhance the medal potential”. However, funding for Paralympic archery has been increased slightly. In a statement, Archery GB chief executive Neil Armitage said, “Although
we are disappointed with the decision to award no funding on the Olympic side, we have been preparing for the challenges of affordability and National Lottery revenue, created efficiencies and it hasn’t reduced our ambition. Clearly it will be a very different programme moving forward, but the success of crucial areas like the Performance Pathway, which has been supported by Sport England will help us meet those ambitions in the future.” At the time of going to print, Archery GB is expected to appeal the funding loss through UK Sport.
World Games spaces fill up
20 more spaces have been filled for the World Games in Poland later this year, as the second round of allocations has been filled. The first round of places awarded the recurve and barebow places to nations with high-finishing athletes at the 2016 World Field Championships in Dublin, and the second round of places for the compound competition has been awarded based on continental qualifying tournaments. With only Asia left to host their qualifying tournament, there are only a handful of quota places left to win. Croatia, Denmark, Spain, Slovenia, Italy, France, Netherlands, Russia, Turkey, USA, Mexico, Colombia, India, South Africa and Korea have all secured one or more compound places.
Brady Breaks record The USA’s Brady Ellison has set a new world record for the men’s recurve division in the 18m indoor round at 598 – two points off perfect. He shot the world-best score at the first stage of the Indoor World Cup in Marrakesh late in 2016 to break a record that had stood for 15 years after Michele Frangilli set it at 597 in 2001. That record was matched just a few days later as Olympic champion Ku Bonchan
of Korea shot 598 at the World Archery Excellence Centre’s opening tournament in Lausanne, Switzerland. He missed out on breaking the new record by just a few millimetres in his last end. Another record came close to being broken at the second stage of the Indoor World Cup in Thailand as Sim Yeji of Korea matched the women’s recurve record for the 18m indoor round at 594.
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shoot report
The Cup kicks off An unstoppable Brady Ellison started his indoor season the way he finished his outdoor season at the first stage of the Indoor World Cup in Marrakesh
A
fter an action packed summer of outdoor archery, it was time to move indoors for the Indoor World Cup. There are four stages over the winter travelling from Marrakesh to Bangkok, Nimes and Las Vegas. Stage one ran from 26-27 November in Marrakesh. Dutch archer Mike Schloesser topped the qualifying for the compound men with a score of 599, with Stephan Hansen of Denmark in second with a 596. Four archers were tied for third all on 594, setting up some interesting matches in the head-toheads. Mike Schloesser kept up the strong form through the first, second and third rounds, shooting three perfect matches of 150 points to reach the semi-finals. Stephan Hansen faced a tricky quarter-final against fellow Dane Martin Damsbo who had just shot a 150 in the previous round. They were
tied 148-148 after 15 arrows, taking them to a shoot-off where they both shot 10s, but it was Hansen that won out to continue through to the semi-final. Braden Gellenthien of the USA was next to face Mike Schloesser, and Schloesser started as he had been to go 60-57 up after the first two ends, a gap that proved too large for Gellenthien to overhaul despite Schloesser slipping a few into the nine, ending the match 147-146. In the other semi-final Stephan Hansen beat Viktor Orosz from Hungary 147-143. That set up a gold medal match between Schloesser and Hansen, and it didn’t disappoint. After three ends the match was tied 89-89, but over the next two ends Hansen dropped only one more point to edge the match 148-147. That left Gellenthien and Orosz to fight it out for the bronze medal in a match that was just as close, with Gellenthien taking the early lead at 90-89, but two 30s to
finish gave the medal to Viktor Orosz with a final score of 149-148. In the compound women category it was Danelle Wentzel from South Africa who qualified first with a score of 593, with Marcella Tonioli and Sarah Sonnichsen in second and third respectively. A tight match in the second round between Sonnichsen and fellow Dane Louise Laursen saw the 14th seed Laursen take the match 146-143. Danelle Wentzel cruised through to the quarter-finals where she faced Indoor World Champion Irene Franchini, and it was Wentzel who was too good for the Italian, winning 147-143. Fifth seed Toja Ellison faced a tight match against fourth seed Andrea Marcos, which finished 146-145 in favour of Ellison. The fourth semi-finalist was American Cassidy Cox, who reached the last four after beating Louise Laursen 146143. It was Wentzel versus Ellison in the first
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shoot report
Event photography: Dean Alberga
Bryony Pitman came from behind to beat Aida Roman in the women’s recurve gold medal match
Danelle Wentzel beat outdoor World Cup champion Marcella Tonioli to the women’s compound title semi-final, with Wentzel taking the early lead and closing out the match 147-144. Marcella Tonioli faced Cassidy Cox in another high scoring semi-final, with Tonioli booking her place in the final 148-146. In the gold medal match Wentzel started strong, taking the lead 30-28. Tonioli closed to within a point as the match progressed, but Wentzel did enough to take the match – and the gold – 146-145. In the bronze medal match Toja Ellison started strong against Cassidy Cox with 30-28 after the first set, and Cox couldn’t overcome the deficit as the match ended 145-144 in favour of Ellison. 77 recurve men took part in the qualifying round, but the day belonged to one man. Brady Ellison finished up on a world record score of 598/600 for the top qualifying spot, and went on to cruise through the second round without dropping an arrow outside the 10. Florent Mulot took out fifth seed Tom Hall in the second round, taking him through to a quarter final against Massimiliano Mandia. On the other side of the draw, three out of the four higher seeds fell, including third seed Victor Wunderle of the USA, who lost against
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Stephan Hansen was the only man able to challenge Mike Schloesser, but he did it when it mattered and went home with the gold Michael Sanna of France. The other three top seeds made it through to the semi finals, with Brady Ellison facing Massimiliano Mandia although a score of 119/120 from Brady saw off the challenge to book himself a spot in the gold medal match. The other semi-final was a close run thing between 14th Seed Michael Sanna and second seed Matteo Fissore, which went to a shoot-off. Both archers shot a 10 but it was second seed Fissore that edged the match. In the gold medal match Ellison was relentless yet again; with four successive ends of 30 he was unbeatable. Masimiliano Mandia took the bronze medal as he beat Michael Sanna 6-2. The recurve women category saw three Brits in the top seven in qualifying with Bryony Pitman, Sarah Bettles and Rebekah
Tipping qualifying second, sixth and seventh respectively, but it was the Mexican Aida Roman that topped the list with a 584. Fellow Mexican Gabriala Bayardo also shot strongly in qualifying to be third seed. Aida and Bryony both eased into the quarter-finals, winning their second round matches 6-0 after byes in the first round, where they were joined by third and fourth seeds Gabriela Bayardo and Reena Parnat of Estonia. A tight match followed between Aida Roman and Melina De Grandis as the match went to 5-5, leading to a tense shoot-off. Both archers shot 10s but it was the top seed that did just enough to make it to the semi-final. Bryony Pitman was comfortably through to the other semi-final, but Gabriela Bayardo lost 6-2 to Sarah Bettles. The two Brits faced each other in the semi-final, with nothing to choose between them after five ends, and it was a one arrow shoot-off that finally settled the match in Pitman’s favour. Aida Roman had an easier semi final, beating Reena Parnat 7-1. Aida took the lead in the gold medal match, going 4-2 up, but Bryony fought back with a 29 and a 30 to win the match 6-4. In the battle for third place, Reena Parnat shot strongly to beat Sarah Bettles 6-0.
gold
silver
bronze
Recurve Men
Brady Ellison
Matteo Fissore
Massimiliano Mandia
Recurve Women
Bryony Pitman
Aida Roman
Reena Parnat
Compound Men
Stephan Hansen
Mike Schloesser
Viktor Orosz
Compound Women
Danelle Wentzel
Marcella Tonioli
Toja Ellison
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