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TOKYO — Brady Ellison, going into the Olympics ranked world No. 1 in men’s recurve archery, begins his bid for three medals Friday.
Ellison, 32, of Globe-Miami, is competing in his fourth Olympics and has three medals, two team silvers and an individual bronze. He is an individual gold medal contender in Tokyo and also will compete in men’s team and the new mixed team event.
First up is the men’s ranking round Friday at Yumenoshima Ranking Field. Ellison set the world ranking round record of 702 in August 2019. The Olympic ranking round record is 700, set at Rio in 2016 by Korea’s Kim Woojin.
“Everything is going well so far,” Ellison said. “We’re dealing with the heat and humidity. Humidity hasn’t been too bad but picked up the other day and you could see the whole entire field starting to feel it. The finals field feels about 10-15 degrees hotter than the actual practice field so that’s interesting.
“There’s a tricky wind that keeps switching left and right, left and right and it’s hard to see a lot of that. I’m expecting pretty good scores in the finals venue because the wind’s not too bad there. It picks up for sure, but It’s a lot more manageable. When the wind switches, you may not shoot 8s, you might just shoot a 9 on those misses.
“The team is firing good. We’re all shooting good, having fun and everything’s going pretty good.”
The mixed team competition through the medals will be contested Saturday with the U.S. team to be made official after the rankings rounds Friday.
Team Arizona: Mexico softball falls 4-0 to Canada in Olympic opener
TOKYO — Two days before the Tokyo Olympics opening ceremony, competition began in soccer and softball, the latter returning for the first time since 2008.
Former Arizona State pitcher Dallas Escobedo allowed two runs in the first inning at Fukushima Azuma Stadium in Mexico’s 4-0 loss to Canada.
Canadian pitcher Sara Groenewegen threw a no-hitter for four innings before leaving with a four-run lead, replaced by Jenna Caira then Danielle Lawrie.
Mexico finished with two hits, neither by former ASU players Chelsea Gonzales or Sashel Palacios. Taylor McQuillin, out of UA, pitched after Escobedo for 1 2/3 innings.
The U.S. softball team shut out Italy 2-0 and Japan won 8-1 over Australia. UA’s Giulia Koutsoyanopulos went 0-of-2, both strikeouts, for Italy, which managed just one hit in six innings off Cat Osterman. Monica Abbott pitched the seventh for the U.S.
Dejah Mulipola, who just finished her UA career, did not play for the U.S.
On Thursday, the U.S. plays Canada followed by Mexico vs. Japan and Italy vs. Australia.
Julie Ertz sits out first half of U.S. women’s soccer loss
Arizona native Julie Ertz sat out the first half of the U.S. soccer team’s loss to Sweden on Wednesday in its Olympic opener.
Midfielder Ertz had been recovering from a knee injury. She played all of the second half after Sweden led 1-0 at halftime.
The Americans lost for a second straight Olympics to Sweden, falling in the quarterfinals at Rio in 2016. They next play New Zealand on Wednesday.
It was the first loss for the U.S. national team since January 2019, ending a 44-match unbeaten streak.
More: Team Arizona carrying its highest profile into Tokyo Olympics
More: 10 to watch: For Diana Taurasi, ‘longevity is no coincidence’ as she chases 5th Olympic gold
More: Building Team Arizona for Tokyo Olympics: Local connections in Summer Games
More: Distance runner Abdi Abdirahman returning for fifth Olympics at age 44
More: ASU, UA will duel for medals at Tokyo Olympics with equal representation
Reach the reporter at [email protected] or 602-444-8053. Follow him on Twitter @jeffmetcalfe.
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