World Archery Americas Names D’Amour Recurve Junior Men Archer of the Year

Nicholas D’Amour of St. Thomas, a student at the University of the Virgin Islands, majoring in business administration, has just received the Recurve Junior Men Archer of the Year Award by World Archery Americas.  Training with his coach, Angelo Ruiz Acevedo, he has achieved much in 2021, with more to come in 2022.

World Archery Americas has released the winners of its 2021 Athlete of the Year awards. The nominees were proposed between Dec. 6 and Jan. 15 by a group of eligible individuals and bodies.

Guillermina García (Mexico), international judge and member of World Archery’s Board of Justice and Ethics; Juan Morelli (Uruguay), president of the Archery Federation of Uruguay; Trina Robert (Bermuda), secretary general of the Archery Association of Bermuda Trina; Brenda Collazo (Puerto Rico), member of the Archery Federation of Puerto Rico; and Jackeline Palomino (Peru), secretary general of the Archery Federation of Peru were members of the commission that made the final decision.

International Judge and International Classifier Megan Tierney (USA-Alternate) and Technical Manager of the Archery Association of Guatemala Celeste Collado (GUA-Alternate) acted as alternates.

The 2021 Athlete of the Year awards recognize stellar performances from archers throughout the season from the Americas.

The awards will be presented at different events during the 2022 season, starting in March in Puerto Rico during the world ranking event.

Winners:
Recurve Men: Jack Williams (USA)
Recurve women: Mackenzie Brown (USA)
Compound men: Braden Gellenthien (USA)
Compound women: Sara Lopez (COL)
Recurve Junior Men: Nicholas D’Amour (ISV)
Recurve Junior Women: Valentina Vazquez (MEX)
Compound Junior Men: Sebastian Garcia (MEX)
Compound Junior Women: Dafne Quintero (MEX)
Recurve Cadet Men: Miguel Armando Figueroa (MEX)
Recurve Cadet Women: Casey Kaufhold (USA)
Compound Cadet Men: Sawyer Sullivan (USA)
Compound Cadet Women: Selene Rodriguez (MEX)
Recurve Men Open: Kevin Mather (USA)
Recurve Women Open: Fabiola Dergovics (BRA)
Compound Men Open: Omar Echeverria (MEX)
Compound Women Open: Mariana Zuniga (CHI)
Men W1: Helcio Luiz Jaime Gomez (BRA)
Women W1: Lisa Coryell (USA)
Visually Impaired: Catalina Reyes (MEX)
Coach of the Year: Heber Mantilla (COL)

Nicholas was the only junior in the top 10 of the Continent and the World in 2021. In the World Archery World Rankings, he is number 6, with his highest World Ranking at number 3.  In the World Archery World Cup Finals, he was seeded number 2, finishing number 5 overall.  In the Americas, for the World Cup, he was the only junior in the top 50, and he finished with 40 World Cup Points.

In the World Archery Indoor World Series with a score of 1768, D’Amour finished 16^th overall, the only junior in the top 20. At the Gran Premio de Espana 2021 Gran Prix Vila de Madrid in Madrid, Spain, he shot a career high 683 and finished 2^nd in the tournament.

D’Amour represented the Virgin Islands at the Tokyo 2021 Olympics.

Statistics – 2021 Season

9.12 Average Arrow

28 – 15 (65%) Matches

4 – 6 (40%) Tiebreaks

67 Ranking round

Olympic Appearance 2021 Tokyo

Silver Medal European Grand Prix – Antalya, Turkey

Number 2 Seed in the World Cup Finals

INDIVIDUAL EVENTS: SEED AND RANKING – 2021

In Junior Competitions in 2021:

1. Nicholas D’Amour finished first in the Continental Qualifier for the Junior Pan American Games – City of Medellin WRE – Pan Am Junior Games CQT. He shot a 659 in the ranking round. He finished 5^th overall in the World Ranking Event.
2. He was seeded 12 in the World Archery Youth Championships, Wroclaw, Poland, with a score of 660, finishing 5^th overall. In Wroclaw, he was the highest ranking and highest finisher from the Americas.
3. D’Amour finished first in the South American Youth Championships Open Guayaquil, Ecuador.
4. He was seeded number 1 in the Junior Pan American Games in Cali, Colombia, with a score of 679, finishing 4^th overall.