Ella Gibson has won silver at both the Lancaster Classic, Vegas Shoot and the Indoor World Series Final in a phenomenal ten-day stint.
From 25 January to 4 February, three high-stakes shoots took place in the US: the Lancaster Classic, the Vegas Shoot and the Indoor World Series Final. While the Series Final was a World Archery (WA) 18m round, the other two events showcased a different format of indoor archery.
At Lancaster, 11-zone scoring is used. This means that the X, which is the WA 10, scores 11 points, and the recurve 10 also scores a 10 for compound archers.
Ella comments: “I really love the format. I think it’s the best format indoors in my opinion. It’s the fairest kind of scoring and shows how well people are really shooting.”
Qualification is out of a possible 660, and head-to-heads eliminations follow. For the compound women, the top four archers out of the eliminations compete in a shoot-up. This is where the fourth place archer shoots against the third ranked, and the winner then shoots against the second ranked and so on.
What makes this final different from any other, is that there is a special 12 dot on the three spot face, located between the eight and seven ring. An archer can opt to shoot the 12 ring by pressing a button by their feet, but they have to do so before they attempt to shoot for the bonus.
“I would definitely recommend anyone to do it. It’s great to track your progress and it will give you a fuller picture compared to any other types of scoring. Do it at your clubs, in your free time, and try it out,” Ella said.
If you haven't got the right target face to hand, a small sticker can do the job for a club archer wishing to try the round out.
At Vegas, the same triangle three spot faces are used, but the X for compound is 10 rather than 11. For the first time in her career, Ella shot a perfect 900/900, one of only two women to do so at this particular Vegas Shoot. In the live finals between Ella and Denmark’s Tanja Gellenthein, they competed in a shoot up; the highest end scorer stays in until there is a winner.
"I look forward to next year, and hopefully I can do even better. My first year at Vegas I dropped three points, the second year I dropped two points, last year I dropped one point, and this year I didn't drop any. So I know I'm moving in the right direction."
To cap off her fortnight, Ella took home the silver Indoor World Series Final medal for a second year in a row.
If you fancy trying something different, get some Vegas-style three spot faces, gather your friends or clubmates and give it a go!
