Vinogradova tops women's compound rankings as Archery World Cup season begins

Mariia Vinogradova was the top women's compound performer on the opening day of the Archery World Cup in Shanghai ©World Archery

Russia's Mariia Vinogradova began the first Archery World Cup event of the season in superb style as she beat Colombia’s Sara Lopez in the women’s compound qualification stage in Shanghai.

Vinogradova secured the number one rank by virtue of a score of 699 out of 720, enough to finish ahead of Lopez, who won the Archery World Cup final event in Lausanne last year, by a solitary point.

Malaysia’s Mat Salleh was a further three points adrift in third as she ended the phase with 695, and the result saw the Colombian side narrowly trail the Russians in the team competition.

In the men’s compound event, former world number one and double world champion Braden Gellenthien of the United States topped the standings with an excellent round of 713.

His score saw him finish just two points ahead of second-placed Stephan Hansen of Denmark, while Dutchman Mike Schloesser, who became the first archer in history to shoot a perfect 600 for the 18-metre ranking round at the Archery World Cup stage in Nimes in January, placed third.

“I shot around 36 or 40 arrows on the practice field as fast as I could, just getting through the arrows and trying to wake my body up,” Gellenthien said.

“I was still a little slow at the start of the ranking round.

“I opened up with a seven but then I think shot eight 60s over the rest of the day.”

American Braden Gellenthien topped the men's compound ranking round with a score of 713 in Shanghai ©World Archery

Elsewhere, the men’s recurve event was monopolised by the South Koreans as they took the top four places on the leaderboard to get their campaign off to the best possible start.

Kim Woo-jin sealed top spot with 694 points in the ranking round as he finished above team mates Bonchan Ku, Jin Hyek-Oh and Lee Seung-yun.

American Brady Ellison could not quite breach the commanding Korean quartet as he was fifth.

Following six days of competition in the Chinese city, the World Cup is due to move to Antalya, Turkey, from May 26 to 31, Wroclaw, Poland, from August 11 to 16, and Medellin, Colombia, from September 8 to 13, before the final in Mexico City on October 24 and 25.