TERNI, IT – Following a week of intense weather and equally intense competition, William “Alex” Melnik is bringing home a silver medal from the World Archery 3D Championships in the men’s barebow event.
After the first day of qualifications, Melnik was sitting second with a score of 439, and by the end of the second day, he still was in the top 3 in the third spot. His high-qualifying score earned him a bye all the way to the fourth round of elimination matches, where he first faced off against Fredrik Lundmark of Sweden (silver medalist in 2019) and came away victorious with a score of 63-61. This win earned him the title of Pool A winner and led him to shoot versus Cesar Vera Bringas (Spain), where they tied a close match. They were both 8s, but Melnik’s was slightly closer to the middle.
Today, he shot in the semifinals against Italian Giuseppe Seimandi and shot a strong score of 40 with two 11s and a 10. Winning this match gave him an opportunity to shoot in the gold medal round. To make his day a little more difficult, he was shooting up against David Jackson from France, who is the reigning World Champion in the man’s barebow competition from Lac La Biche in 2019. While Melnik had a strong competition, it was Jackson’s day to walk away with the gold medal. The final score was 39-29 in favour of the Frenchman, resulting in Melnik earning the silver.
“I had a pretty hard battle through some legends to make it through to the quarter finals, then I made it through, winning against the 2017 World Champion,” recounted Melnik after the gold medal match. “This morning, I faced Italian legend Giuseppe Seimandi and I took that battle which led me to the gold medal match against the reigning World Champion David Jackson and he took it from me today, so I took the silver. I’m looking forward to coming home.”
Melnik brings home the sole medal for Canada at this event and the country looks forward to welcoming the entire team home following their performances.
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For more information, please contact:
Zoe Meil, Communications & Safe Sport Coordinator
(613) 260-2113 ext. 3