Recurve men’s world number one Brady Ellison and women’s number two Casey Kaufhold shone in The Great Chicago Open, the fifth stage of the Indoor Archery World Series, attaining the top seed positions in their respective categories.
The US duo won the Olympic mixed team bronze medal together in Paris 2024 last summer, and there was no doubt of their quality in Illinois on Saturday afternoon as recently crowned Nimes winner Ellison scored a remarkable 597 in the 600-arrow qualification round and Pan American Champion Kaufhold dropped 591.
“I’m happy with how I shot my bow overall today,” said Lancaster born Kaufhold, whose score was seven points higher than second seed Gaby Schloesser‘s at 584. “I definitely had some moments where I got nervous and broke down a little bit but overall it’s a good score.”
“At the end of the day, the score’s the score. It doesn’t really matter how you shot it.”
Although there was little to worry about for Kaufhold, Devaang Gupta went tit for tat with four-time Olympic medallist Ellison in the recurve men’s qualifying in front of the latter’s home supporting fans, an impressive feat on its own considering the 24-year-old Gupta is yet to even win a senior international medal.
The Canadian shot 595, just two points off his American counterpart in Festival Hall, that included 56 10s, three nines and a single eight making him the second seed heading into the afternoon’s eliminations.
“Shooting felt good overall,” he said. “There were a couple loose arrows that I wish I could take back but that’s generally the case.”
“I’m not thinking too much about the gold medal, just one match at a time,” added Gupta, when asked about potentially picking up his first podium. “Let’s go through the matches and see how it goes.”
