Dustin Watson is a World Champion
YANKTON, US – Dustin Watson is coming back to Canada as a World Champion with a gold medal hanging around his neck following the 2022 World Archery Field Championships. This caps off two days of elimination rounds with both team and individual events.
On Friday, after a delay due to scheduling, the semifinal match up of Watson and Aljza Matija Brenk of Slovenia went on. Brenk came into the match as the 2nd-ranked archer, Watson the 6th. The Canadian did not let that shake him; none of his arrows scored under a 5. While Brenk did have the upper hand after the first end, Watson tied it up in the second and took it back in the third end. By the conclusion of the match, Watson won 67-65. This then advanced him into the finals against Tim Jevsnik, also from Slovenia. Jevsnik was the first-ranked archer after the two days of qualifiers, the only one in the U21 compound men’s division to shoot a score above 800. To add to the intense level of competition at this event, the match for gold was a nailbiter. Jevsnik and Watson remained tied after the first and second ends at 33, both shooting well. The third end went to Jevsnik and Watson was then able to tie up for the final end. The decision was then made with a tiebreaker, meaning each archer gets to shoot one arrow. Both Jevsnik and Watson’s shots scored 5 points, but the Canadian’s arrow was closer, securing the title and the medal.
Watson was very happy with his result, commenting that he “had an amazing match against the top seed. The match was tight all the way through, pulling the tie on the toughest shot set me up for the shoot-off. I was able to hang tough for a solid shot for the win. Thank you to my coach, Sean McKenty and my supportive teammates, looking forward to the next World Championships.”
“It was a pleasure to see this young archer achieve success in this very tough match,” adds McKenty. “We will see him on the podium in the future.”
On Friday before the semifinal match, Tasjia Boyle and Dustin Watson paired up to shoot against the Romanian team of Andreea Albu and Rares Daniel Alexandrescu in the compound U21 mixed team event. Unfortunately, there were unable to pull off the win and the Romanians moved on to face and defeat the #1-ranked American team. Even though this is a division that was not recognized as a medal division, World Archery still ran the eliminations with the 3 teams present. This is the first time that they shot a mixed team event so they will be able to bring that knowledge and experience with them into future World Championships.
Boyle also shot in her first individual match on Friday. She was up against American Gracelyn Chambers in the compound U21 women’s division. The young Canadian held her own but was unable to pull off the win this time.
This match draws the Canadian participation in this event to a close. The next World Archery Field Championships will be held in 2024.
For more information, please contact:
Zoe Meil, Communications & Safe Sport Coordinator
(613) 260-2113 ext. 3