Last weekend, an 18 m competition with matches was held in Lahti at the Joutjärvi sports hall. This competition format had not been seen in Lahti for 30 years, giving the event a historical touch. I had registered for the women’s Longbow class, but since there were no other women on the participant list, I decided to join the men’s (open) group. I would gain valuable match experience, as shooting the qualification round is a completely different game!
A well-organized and arranged day by Archery club Lahden Vasama. Thank you!
Qualification Round: 1st Half
The competition started with a warm-up, during which I shot heavily to the left. What’s going on… It’s not been a huge issue for me lately.
The first competition end also went poorly, and I shot a mediocre 20 points, which is less than 7 per arrow. At this point, I realized what might be causing the most issues, and my shooting started to improve.
My scores improved steadily, and by the 5th end, I shot 28.
I took a photo memory at the target and of course, Murphy’s law came into play, and the next end went quite badly. During this 30-arrow half, I only had one three-arrow end where all three arrows were good. My performance was still somewhat stiff. Too many technical and mental issues. Time for a 20-minute break before the next half.
Qualification Round: 2nd Half
The emphasis on hits was still on the left side and often too high. I thought too much about the problems, corrected and tested things. I did intentional concentration exercises and tried to relax. Eventually, I got the hang of it and the last ends went really well. I managed to maintain better aim when I trusted myself more. I was left with a nice feeling, ending with three okay shots (10-9-8). Something in my technique was still not quite right, though.
The Finals
I qualified 1st, so I proceeded straight to the gold match as there were only 3 of us competing in our class.
The eureka moment from the qualification round was just a memory when I started the warm-up. During the bye round, the set results were weak.
The first set in the actual match against Kalevi was a tie, as we both shot 17. In the next set, everything went even more wrong and I scraped together a meager 11 points. Kalevi now led 1-3.
I pondered for a second and had the same idea as in the qualification round. How had this been forgotten during the break… A small change, a big impact. The situation improved enough that I shot 9-9-8 on my 3rd or 4th set. The remaining sets went similarly and I eventually won the final 7-3. The victory did not come easy.
Conclusion
During the competition, I had two paths to choose from to solve my problems. One option was to continue shooting, hoping that relaxation and my subconscious would solve the issues. I chose the riskier path and decided to actively fix me by trying things. Usually, this approach makes my shooting stiffer and the mistakes more pronounced. This time, however, the choice was right and I can be satisfied with my performance.
I won gold in the Open Longbow class. In the qualification round, I shot a decent 443 points, which I am satisfied with after all the confusion. Thanks to the gentlemen with whom I spent the day: Kalevi Rovio, Heikki Vähälä and Risto Julkunen.
Photos by Thomas Enckell, Markus Saxlin and me
