Roy Dror, Elia Canales and Alejandra Usquiano collected career-first major indoor wins as world number one Mike Schloesser reasserted his dominance, winning his second event of the 2024 Indoor Archery World Series without dropping a point during matchplay in Nimes.
“Very stoked,” said the Dutchman, when asked for his feelings on the historic run. “I’m really proud of myself. I’ve worked hard for this. This is the biggest [indoor] event in Europe, and winning it means a lot to me.”
Schloesser has, by all accounts, become the first person to shoot five consecutive 150s at one international indoor event. And in the very same hall that, seven years ago, he shot the first perfect 600-point qualifying round.
“The French archery fans here are real fans, they like a great show and I hope I gave them that,” he continued.
The world number one beat James Lutz in the final, 150–148, after beating Nicolas Girard, Mathias Fullerton, Robin Jaatma, and Valerio Della Stua yesterday – although he also required a perfect shoot-off to knock out Fullerton, the top seed.
After a tense but clean first end, both Schloesser and Lutz settled.
But Mike was on point, delivering back-to-back inside-out 10s, while Lutz was lucky to get away with a few linecutters.
The luck didn’t last. A clear nine from Lutz on his second shot of the third end seemed to rattle the 2019 World Archery Champion – and it appeared he’d lost the match in his head as he sent down another nine with his third arrow of the fourth.
He was shaking his head as the 2013 World Archery Champion closed in on the win.
