Bradley’s flying high in Slovenia

Bradley at his typical full draw representing England at the Euronations 2012. (Photograph taken by Jo Larby)

Today has been a big day for Bradley in Slovenia and his first chance to really show what he can do on the global stage.  Assuming I have got this correct (and international tournaments are new to me), Bradley was shooting as an individual and then his scores get put towards the team and mixed team categories.

So how did he do?

With his luggage found and his normal quiver by his side, Bradley settled down for his biggest challenge yet.  In the individuals (qualification rounds) he put in a great performance for his first outing for the ArcheryGB team and with a fantastic 1291 after 144 arrows he secured a well-deserved 11th place (53 archers in total).  He was just one point behind 10th place but easily qualified for the knockout phase.

So how did he do against the other two British archers.  He’s joined Thomas Howse and Robert Gray in Slovenia and they scored 1234 (36th place) and 1187 (45th place) respectively.  I think that Bradley’s performance is therefore outstanding for his first time out.  These combined scores put the Recurve Cadet Team into 8th place overall.

Better still, Bradley’s score was paired with Bryony Pitman for the Recurve Cadet Mixed Team and the two gained a well-deserved 6th place with a score of 2591.

So then we turn to the knockout phase.

Shooting with Bryony, Bradley first had to take on the Bulgarian pair.  With a score of 147 vs 130, Brad and Bryony progressed to the quarter finals.  Here they would take on the Polish pair and they would draw with 147 each.  The results online show Brad and Bryony with an asterix, which I think means they won on more x’s then their competition.  They progressed and took on the Ukrainians in the semi-finals.

Once again, their pair did not make things easy and with a 145 scored it was another draw.  This time though, the asterix fell to the Ukrainians and they progressed to the final to shoot for the gold.  Bradley and Bryony still progressed to the finals to shoot against the Russians for the bronze medal.

Brad and Bryony shot a nice 140, but lost the bronze medal by just one point with the Russians shooting a 141.

So, to sum this up:

  1. It’s Brad’s first outing at this level
  2. He conclusively topped the British archers in his class
  3. He made the finals in a major International tournament
  4. Only missed a medal by one point.

All I can say is AWESOME guys.

For those of you that follow compound and Jon Bull’s progress in particular, the news was a little better.  He achieved 8th place in the qualifier with a score of 674 and placing him top out of the three British entries.  He then went on to win the bronze medal with Daisy in the mixed junior compound team.

So, it just leaves me to wish Bradley, Jon and the rest of the British team the very best of luck for the individual head to heads tomorrow.

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