Erika Anschutz of the University of Nebraska won gold and bronze medals as a member of the U.S. Archery Team that competed in the Archery World Cup – Stage 2 competition held in Antalya, Turkey during June 7-11.  The Archery World Cup features the best international archers competing at four qualifying stages to earn valuable World Cup points in hopes of becoming one of the 32 athletes that will compete in the World Cup Final to be held this year in Edinburgh, Great Britain on September 18-19.  The first stage of the 2010 Archery World Cup was held May 4-8 in Porec, Croatia where Erika placed fourth in the individual competition and won a silver medal in the women’s compound bow team event.  The U.S. will host the pivotal third leg of the World Cup competition in Ogden, Utah during August 3-7.  The fourth and final qualifying stage will be held in Shanghai, China, August 31 - September 4.  The Archery World Cup, which started in 2006, has been a popular event for athletes, sponsors, media, and fans.  It has grown into one of the annual premiere events of international target archery that attracts approximately 300 athletes from 30 countries at each of the various qualifying stages.

The U.S. Archery Team that competed in the World Cup – Stage 2 competition in Turkey was comprised of 16 men and women archers from across the nation that were divided into four, four-person teams based on their gender and type of bow used (recurve or compound).  Erika was joined on the women’s compound bow team by fellow All-American Lindsay Christensen (Preston, Idaho), former Collegiate All-American Jamie Van Natta (Toledo, Ohio), and Diane Watson (Hudson, Florida).

During the individual competition event, Erika shot against 47 other archers representing 21 nations.  She finished the qualification round ranked in first place with a score of 689 out 720 possible points, six points ahead of her closest competitor.  The qualification round consists of 72 arrows shot at a multi-colored target face that is 40-centimeters (15.75 inches) in diameter with five scoring rings (ranging from ten to five points) and set at a distance of 50 meters (54.67 yards).  Based on the results of the qualification round, the archers are numerically ranked and assigned to tournament bracket pairings in preparation for the elimination matches that determine the final outcome for the event.  The target face used for the elimination matches that are also shot at a distance of 50 meters, consists of a yellow-colored aiming spot that is 10 centimeters (3.93 inches) in diameter on a red background.  

During match play, the archers shoot three-arrow sets scoring only hits on the aiming spot.  Two points are awarded to the archer scoring the most hits in a set, while a tied set results in one point for each archer and no score for the archer who loses a set.  The first archer to score five or more points in a four-set elimination round match is the winner.  However, in the finals, the match winner is determined by a score of seven or more points within six sets.  A tied match score is resolved via a sudden death shoot-off with up to three arrows.  If  the archers are still tied after the shoot-off, the higher ranked archer is declared the match winner.  During the finals, each archer shoots only one arrow in a shoot-off, with the arrow closest to the center of the spot determining the winner.

Anschutz had a bye for her 1/32 elimination, and shot steadily through her 1/6, 1/8 and quarterfinal matches to meet Lantee of Finland in the semi-finals. Anschutz took the match after a tie and a single-arrow shoot-off, moving on to the championship match, where she met the former number three-ranked target archer in the world, Nicky Hunt of Great Britain.  Hunt took an early lead in the match by winning the first set (2-0) with two hits versus only one hit for Erika.  However, Erika was undaunted as she came back to win the second set and tie the match score (2-2) with three consecutive hits while Hunt managed only one hit.  In the third set, both archers were able to get only one hit apiece so the match score remained tied (3-3).  The fourth set belonged to Erika as she won it with two hits to take the lead in the match (5-3) while Hunt was unable to hit any of her target spots.  Erika clinched the championship match for the gold medal in the fifth set by hitting all three of her target spots despite Hunt’s valiant effort to tie the match with only two hits. 

In the mixed team event, the top-ranked male and female archers represented their respective countries.  Erika was paired with Duane Price (Greenfield, Wisconsin) who was the highest ranked compound bow male archer on the U.S. Archery Team at the World Cup competition.  Based on the results from the individual qualification round, the U.S. mixed team was seeded first among 20 competing international teams.  During the mixed team event, the archers also shoot from a distance of 50 meters at the same hit/miss target face used in the individual elimination round.  During the quarter-finals, the U.S. team shot against New Zealand and won another closely contested match (5-3) that was not decided until the final arrows were shot in the last set.  In the semi-finals, the U.S. team suffered a disappointing loss when it was upset (5-3) by the fourth-seeded Mexican team. The U.S. team was then paired against Italy in the finals match for the bronze medal and won it decisively (6-2) after four sets.  

During the women’s compound bow team event that included representation from 11 nations, the U.S. team was seeded number one. After receiving a bye for the 1/8 round, the U.S. women shot against the Australians in the quarter-finals and easily won the match (5-1).  In the semi-finals, the U.S. team faced the fourth-seeded team from Iran and was upset after losing a three-arrow shoot-off (three hits to one) following a tied match score (4-4).  During the bronze medal match against third-seeded Mexico, the U.S. team suffered another heartbreaking loss that was decided by the difference of a single hit in the last set of the match (7-5). 

Anschutz will be a member of the U.S. Archery Team that competes in the remaining two stages of the 2010 Archery World Cup to be held in Ogden, Utah (August 3-7) and Shanghai, China (August 31 – September 4).  Based on her performance in the first two stages of the World Cup competition, she is currently ranked third in her division and must finish the two remaining World Cup stages ranked among the top eight positions to be eligible to compete in the World Cup Final that is scheduled for Edinburgh, Great Britain on September 18-19.  Anschutz is number three ranked compound bow female target archer in the world behind Great Britain’s Nicky Hunt (#2) and Russia’s Albina Loginova (#1).

Additional information about the 2010 Archery World Cup can be accessed at http://www.archery.org/.   

Photo credits: Dean Alberga, Steve Anschutz

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