The European outdoor season continued at the Porec Grand Prix in Croatia this past week. The Grand Prix is an important stepping stone to the last Olympic Qualifier and Stage 3 of the World Cup Series.
There were 197 archers from 29 countries participated in five days of competitions, including individual, team and mixed team competitions, in this world ranking event. In the men’s Olympic recurve division, 77 archers fought for the title of European Champion.
With the competition ramping up for the Olympics, the scores continued to improve. Nicholas D’Amour of the Virgin Islands more than held his own with a qualification score of 662 and ranking 21 in the qualification round.
As the 21st seed, D’Amour earned a bye in the first round of the eliminations. In the second round, he faced Christian Zwetti of Austria. D’Amour prevailed 6-2. In the third round, he went up against Israel’s best archer, Roy Dror. After leading 4-2, Dror fought back, winning the next two closely contested ends and won 6-4.
Dror shot well the rest of the tournament, beating Steve Wijler of the Netherlands, who is ranked number 10 in the world and current Olympic Champion and number 6 in the world Mete Gazoz of Turkey. Dror will face Patrick Huston of Great Britain in the finals.
D’Amour finished 17th overall in Porec. He will now head to Antalya, Turkey, for an intensive training camp. He will train with both the Turkish and Mexican Olympic Teams. He is presently ranked 11 in the world.
Next on his schedule is the Stage 3 of the World Cup, the week of June 18-24, in Antalya, Turkey. The 2024 Paris Olympics is on the near horizon.
