Now that the 2019 Canada Winter Games have come to a close, Archery Canada would like to thank the athletes and audience that joined us in Red Deer, as well as all of those watching from home. The crowd at Westerner Park was energized throughout the competition with the cheers and noise-makers of the friends and family in the crowd. 

 

The individual qualification rounds saw fierce competition with the the ticket to the elimination round depending on every arrow fired. In the Compound division, the end of the individual qualification round saw Austin Taylor (MB), Matthew Turcotte (ON), and Dustin Watson (ON) at the top of the men’s ladder, and Alexandra Paquette (QC), Bryanne Lameg (MB), and J’Lynn Mitchell (SK) at the top of the women’s ladder. 

 

The Recurve round saw Aaron Cox (AB) at the front of the men’s category with Hunter Chipley (SK), and Reece Wilson-Poyton (ON) following right on his heels. The women’s Recurve qualification round ended with Marie-Ève Gélinas (QC) coming out at the top with Ryli Vallière (ON) and Vanessa Estephan (AB) gaining ground behind her. 

 

The excitement in the individual elimination rounds was palpable. The Women’s Compound category came down to a single point in the Bronze medal match between Abigail Bunn (ON) and Bryanne Lameg (MB) with Bunn pulling ahead with one arrow. The Gold medal match saw high-level shooting between Alexandra Paquette (QC) and Kristen Arsenault (PEI) with Paquette pulling into first and winning Gold for Québec and Arsenault winning Silver for PEI’s second medal of this Canada Winter Games.

 

The semi-final match for Men’s Compound was tense with Matthew Turcotte (QC) meeting Jacob Bourassa (SK) facing off in a one arrow shoot-off where Bourassa won to take home Bronze.  Austin Taylor (MB) put up a strong performance against Spencer Gamache (BC) to win Gold.

 

The Bronze medal match for Women’s Recurve saw Ontario’s Ryli Vallière meet Jay Gegner (SK), where Vallière won the Bronze in 3 ends. Marie-Ève Gélinas (QC) was up next, facing Adi Shapira (BC), in the Gold Medal round. Shapria fought hard in the Gold Medal match, but Marie-Ève Gélinas came back to win the Gold for Québec.

 

Capping off the individual elimination round was the Men’s Recurve competition which saw Adam Deane (BC) go up against Wilson Poyton (ON) for the Bronze medal. In a 6-2 victory, Deane pulled ahead and won BC’s third archery medal of the day. The final match was Aaron Cox (AB) against Hunter Chipley (SK). Chipley managed to overcome Cox 6-4 in a hard fought match, taking home Gold for Saskatchewan. 

From the qualification rounds the top 8 teams for the team elimination rounds had also been set. In the Recurve category these were: 

 

 

Moving onto the elimination rounds for Compound mixed teams were:

 

In the Compound team elimination round, we saw once again shoot offs determining the standings with Saskatchewan and Yukon vying for the Bronze medal. Coming off of a strong individual performance to win Bronze, Jacob Bourassa and teammate J’Lynn Mitchell maintained their composure to go home with Bronze for Saskatchewan. 

 

In the Gold Medal match, Team Quebec faced off with Team Manitoba, and the winner was once again determined by a shoot off. Team Quebec (Matthew Turcotte and Alexandra Paquette) pulled through to win Quebec’s third Gold medal – the second for Alexandra.

 

The final day of the Games saw the top eight Recurve mixed teams take to the field. After the first round, teams Alberta, Quebec Ontario and Saskatchewan advanced.

Facing off in the Bronze medal match was Team Ontario and Team Alberta, which, following the theme of they day, was another tight match that required a shoot off to determine who was going home with the Bronze medal. Team Ontario came out on top of the shoot out, with Ryli Valliere going home with her second Bronze of the week, and her teammate Reece Wilson-Poyton winning his first medal.

Quebec entered another Gold medal match to face team Saskatchewan. Both teams included an archer who had already taken a Gold medal – Marie-Eve Gelinas of Quebec and Hunter Chipley of Saskatchewan. Team Quebec would win the match 6-2, completing a gold medal sweep in the Mixed team events.

 

Congratulations to all the athletes for great performances across the board and we will see you in 2023 Canada Winter Games in PEI!