U.S. men's team wins gold medal at Archery World Cup in Ogden; women claim bronze

OGDEN — American archer Brady Ellison is returning to the Olympics. His teammates Jake Kaminski and Jacob Wukie are going for the first time. And all three of the men are heading to London with a gold medal from Stage 3 of the Archery World Cup, held in Ogden this past week.

Ellison, Kaminski and Wukie earned the gold in the men's recurve team event at Lindquist Field on Sunday afternoon, edging the Indian team with a tie-breaker.

A recurve bow, also known as a classic bow, has limbs that curve first toward the archer, but finish going away from the archer and is the only type allowed in Olympic competition.

"It is great that we went and won," Kaminski said, "and it is great for us to feel subconsciously that we can do it no matter what."

India held a two-point lead after the first end, and pushed that to three points, 111-108, after the second. The wind shifted during India's turn to shoot in the third end, and the American's benefited with a five-point swing, taking a 164-162 lead.

The wind was secondary foe for the competitors, and definitely affected strategies.

"With the wind blowing the whole time, we're up there shooting and telling each other where to aim because it's changing moment-by-moment," Wukie said of the USA adjustments.

The wind continued to be a factor in the final end, and the score ended tied a 213, forcing a shoot-off.

"With the shoot-off, especially for outside people looking at it, there's a lot more pressure," said Wukie, who was the only archer of the six to hit a 10 in the tiebreaker to give the Americans the gold. "But for us, we're just doing what we always do. Get out there and shoot our best. You can't guarantee anything; we just go out there and give it all we've got."

Wukie went on to say that, although his No. 1-ranked team in the world now turns its attention to London, winning the gold on Sunday was still an exceptional experience.

"Yeah, it definitely is (cool)," he said. "We put so many years and hours of training in. We're able to come in confident in our ability, but especially with wind like this, anything can happen. So to come out on top, it feels great."

He then added, "we are shooting really strong and we're optimistic looking to London."

Immediately after celebrating his men's team victory, Ellison, who has held a No. 1 world ranking himself since 2010, turned right around to compete with Jennifer Nichols in the mixed recurve gold medal match. The two won handily, 150-137, and Russia finished with the silver.

To add to the excitement, the women's recurve team, which is made up of Nichols, Miranda Leek, and Khatuna Lorig, overcame a 10-point deficit against Germany to earn the bronze medal earlier in the day.