After shooting a near-perfect second half, Nicholas D’Amour was the overall winner of a USA Archery Indoor-sanctioned event, part of the Hershey Winter Series held in Annville, Penn., on Jan. 8, 2023. This was a world-ranking STAR FITA event, eligible for points in the Open Ranking of the Indoor World Series. D’Amour was not only the winner of his division (senior recurve), but with a score of 586, he was the overall winner of all divisions, including those shooting recurve, compound and barebow.
D’Amour had a slow start in the first half, shooting with a score of 288, but he had a near-perfect second half, shooting a 298 out of 300 (586 total score). The Open Ranking of the Indoor World Series scores an archer’s top three finishes. With only two scoring indoor tournaments, Nicholas raised his world standing from 57 to 13. He had previously scored a 591 at the Winter Warm-up Event in Lancaster, Penn. His combined total is now 1177.
There are four major national and international indoor tournaments left this season. The next world ranking tournament is the Indoor US Nationals in Lancaster, Penn., on Jan. 13-15. After the Indoor Nationals, he will compete in the Sud de France Archery Tournament in Nimes, France. This is the first major indoor international tournament. Nimes is followed by trips to Lancaster, Penn., and Las Vegas, Nev., for the Lancaster Classic and the Vegas Shoot-out.
Scoring in Nimes and Las Vegas will provide points for the Elite Ranking division of the Indoor World Series. Nimes and Las Vegas are the largest indoor tournaments in the world. Nimes will have in excess of 1,000 participants; Vegas will have more than 3,000 archers. The top 16 at the end of the series will compete in the Indoor World Series Final. The top two indoor scores count toward an archer’s overall world ranking. D’Amour is presently ranked number 7 in the world.
