The indoor circuit in Nimes, France. was at capacity this week. Over 1120 archers from 50 countries took to the shooting line at the Parc des Expos in southern France this weekend. Nimes has long been a rite of passage for aspiring archers in Europe – but this year’s event has attracted an unusually high number of entries from afar, including Colombia, the United States, Brazil and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Parc des Expos in Nîmes is one of archery’s most longstanding and recognizable indoor venues.
Nimes is the penultimate leg of this year’s Indoor Archery World Series – before season titles are awarded in Vegas in two weeks for the senior categories. For the second year, Nimes has also hosted the Indoor Archery World Series Youth Finals for under 21s.
The high turnout is directly related to the fact that indoor events now offer world ranking points. These ranking points will prove to be crucial for someone looking to qualify for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, namely Nicholas D’Amour.
In the ranking round, D’Amour finished 4th. His score of 593 was just 3 points off the leading score of 596, shot by Roy Dror of Israel. His score in the ranking round will also raise his overall ranking in the Open Division of the Indoor World Series. D’Amour’s score of 593 out of 600 was also a personal best in a world archery-sanctioned indoor event.
D’Amour’s 17th place finish, out of 191 competitors in the Senior Recurve Men Division in Nimes, will also raise his standing in the Elite Division of the Indoor World Series. The top two indoor scores count towards an archer’s overall world ranking. The next stop for him is the Lancaster Classic.
The next world-ranking indoor tournament is the Las Vegas Shootout, the largest indoor tournament in the world. Vegas will have more than 3400 archers. The top 16 at the end of the series will compete in the Indoor World Series Final.
