Flood of medals in Boules
After a hard rain on Sunday which affected the schedule of the Boules competition the athletes and spectators have to face a flood of medals todays: All twelve medal events have to be concluded today. Fans of Boules have to master a tough day: The competition started at 8am in the morning. The last final is scheduled for 7pm.
First ever medal for San Marino
San Marino made history today with their first ever medal at The World Games. In the raffa doubles event of boules sport, Enrico Dall'Olmo and Jacopo Frisoni each collected a silver medal. The two athletes are sure to become heroes in the small mountainous country; San Marino has never won an Olympic medal, and up to today only their sports shooters had enjoyed any success (Mediterranean Games: one silver and two bronzes) at a major international multi-sports competition.
Cornelia Mihai became the first woman from United Arab Emirates to medal at The World Games, when she collected her Air Sports Canopy Piloting bronze medal yesterday. At a stroke she doubled the Middle Eastern country's medal tally at The World Games, their only other podium was a bronze in men’s Snooker in 2009.
Italy on the other hand has no problems collecting medals. One of the most prolific countries in the history of The World Games, they dominated the finals of the Roller Skating Artistic disciplines, topping the podiums in all four events contested last night, including a double gold haul for Luca Lucaroni.
Belgians reach the summit at The World Games
Which nationalities would you expect to excel at climbing? Obviously, somewhere with mountains would be a great start. So, you would give the Belgian climber no chance of finishing anywhere other than last. However, Anak Verhoeven did not let a small thing like a lack of mountains in her native country deter her.
In the sport climbing Women's Lead final on Sunday she powered up the wall to take the most unlikely gold medal of The World Games so far. This rounded off a day of high drama for Belgium, Sandrine Tas topping the podium in the morning after winning the 1000m sprint in the roller speed skating and then claiming silver in the evening's 15,000m elimination race. Her feats ensured that she deservedly became the first Belgian at The World Games 2017 to be awarded The Athlete of the Day, powered by Tissot. Belgium will also definitely feature in a medal game in korfball, their team progressing to the semi finals. It is most likely that this will be a silver medal. Since 1985 when the sport made it to the program of The World Games for the first time, Belgium was the runner-up in Korfball.
Brady pulls away from the bunch
Top American archer Brady Ellison showed his star quality with a stunning display in the recurve qualifying, leading the rankings by a huge thirty points over his nearest competitor. The bowman, nicknamed “The Prospector” for his ability to find gold, has medalled in the last two Olympic Games, in the target discipline of archery.
Ellison proved that he is just as proficient walking around a course of marked and unmarked targets set at different distances. His score of 395 of a possible 432 guarantees him a place in the final and was one of the highest ever recorded at a recurve field competition. Ever the perfectionist, Brady commented “This was a 400 course, and I definitely left 7, 10 points out there today. Oh well, 395 is not bad”
