Americans dominate qualifying at Indoor Archery World Cup

Brady Ellison equaled the men's recurve qualifying world record ©World Archery

American archers dominated qualifying at the Indoor Archery World Cup with Brady Ellison producing a superb round during the recurve men’s event at Bangkok.

The London 2012 Olympic silver medallist narrowly missed out on securing the maximum qualifying score of 600, but his total of 597 proved enough to secure the status as top seed heading into the second stage of the competition.

His tally also saw him equal the qualifying world record, set by Italy’s Michele Frangilli back in 2001, with only the final three arrows of the first half of his round missing the 10-ring.

“For quite a while I haven’t been training indoors as much as I did this year, and I feel really good,” said Brady.

“Today I tied the world record for the fourth time, and I feel confident it’s going to be mine not too long from now.”

The American, though, could face competition in the later stages of the event from South Korea’s Oh Jin Hyek, with the Olympic champion having qualified second with a total score of 594.

Mexico’s Ernesto Boardman claimed the status as third seed by ending a further point behind.

South Korea dominated qualifying in the women's recurve competition ©World Archery

South Korea were the leading nation in the women’s recurve qualifying, boasting eight of the top 10 archers, with Jeon Sungeun posting the top score with her compatriot Sehui Park ending on 587 to become the second seed for the event.

Hansol Kang and Sim Yeji were a shot further back, while Seunghyeon Jo and Jin Yun finished on 585 to complete a South Korean top six.

Americans were once again at the fore of the compound event, however, as Lexi Keller led the women’s field by finishing on a qualifying score of 584, with Toja Cerne taking second spot on 577.

The Slovenian's better first-half of the qualifying saw her finish ahead of Crystal Gauvin, with the American ending on the same total.

Kris Schaff topped the men’s qualifying on a total of 597 with his team-mate Reo Wilde and The Netherlands’ Mike Schloesser ending on 594 and 593 respectively.

The trio will begin as the favourites when the second stage of competition is due to place tomorrow with the elimination and finals.