It’s been two month now since I competed in my first World Archery 3D Championships. Time to do some summing up.
The venue was plain beautiful. Green golf course and castle surroundings offered three challenging courses for over 300 archers to show off their skills!
We had a couple of extra days for practicing and just enjoying the atmosphere. I got to meet people from social media finally in person. That was definitely one of the highlight of this event!
The individuals
The first qualification day was ok. I didn’t overdo it, even though my shooting was challenging at times. I was able to enjoy the day with great company. I have shot 4 qualification days in international championships and always with Encarna in the same group. Funny coincidence.
The second day went better and I improved my ranking from 9th to 5th place. On the elimination day, however, I started to have serious problems as the matches progressed. I was godsmacked to win my way through to the semifinals.
I shot my first match against Jayme (59-78) from USA and second against Johanna (68-80) from Austria.
The elimination course was really challenging, but so it should be!
The most memorable two arrows in Slovenia were the last two before the semifinals. I had shot most of my arrows more on the left side before that. I paused for a second, gave it a thought, corrected my mindset, heard my team mates’ cheering and managed to shoot 10+8 on a deer at ~28 m. I was so happy.
The good vibe was unfortunately temporary as the same technical problem emerged again and Encarna won the following semifinal match (39-50) and I continued to the bronze match.
It was my first medal match on an internation field. I was physically shaking, but didn’t feel too anxious. What a strange feeling. Something you can’t train too often! I had an honest chance of winning on my last arrow, but couldn’t repeat my good first execution and shot a miss. Inge ended up winning (65-75). Still, the last target was exciting and I enjoyed it the most. It was further away and offered us more challenge.
Next time I won’t have these technical issues and will be more experienced.
My final personal ranking was 4/25.
The Mixed Teams
I managed to shoot highest Longbow score in Finnish team and went on to both Mixed Team and Women’s Team quarterfinals.
The rules had changed for Mixed teams. At first I though it must be a mistake. Someone must have mixed the time limits of teams and mixed teams, surely? But no. We shot 2 arrows each, always rotating places and shooting 1 arrow at a time. So 4 arrows shot in 160 s. More than sufficient time compared to teams match.
Tomi and I shot in our first match against Spain. We shot good, but not consistent enough. Encarna and Jairo were the strongest team out of all 8 of us in the quarterfinals. We all shot the same targets.
I feel privileged I had the opportunity to shoot against the best ranked longbow team in the world.
Our final ranking was 5/13.
The Women’s Teams
Last year a team consisted of 3 archers. Today there are all bow types represented (4), but with the same time limit as before. This was a bit odd in my opinion. 120 s for 4 people shooting from 2 different pegs (2 pegs = walking time + 2 x estimating distance). So mixed team, where 2 people are shooting from the same peg have more time. Maybe World Archery feels a much higher time preassure is needed in teams. Who knows.
We shot in heavy rain against USA. I’m proud of my team, and we did our best. In the end, USA won by 6 points (120-126).
Our final ranking was 5/9.
Supporting National Team
I can’t imagine a more supporting team and room mate (Anna Heinänen). There was no need we didn’t try to fullfill. It was more of a challenge to ask. How Finnish of us.
We lent each other jackets, thermal layers, hats, mittens and a shoulder to relieve stress on. We delivered a quick breakfast when someone overslept before their medal match. We arranged extra bus transportation. We cheered loudly at the matches. We took memorable shots with a real camera. We had beers together and laughed. We took care of archers from other teams when needed, as well. I couldn’t be more proud of our team.
Conclusion
All in all I’m happy with my performance. I shot the best I could at that time and was focused when it mattered. I’ve come to notice I concentrate better under appropriate preassure. I almost want to draw a conclusion I shoot better in a competition than in practice.
Last year I got to shoot in Italy at the European Championships. It was my debut in international 3D competition. My personal ranking was then 5th and we won bronze in Mixed Team with Janne Huovinen. This year I managed to achieve 4th place, which hopefully means I’m progressing?
Thank you Riku Mäkelä and World Archery for the photos.
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