Larry Godfrey

Godfrey and Oliver clinch bronze for GB at Archery Championships in Turin

British duo Larry Godfrey and Amy Oliver clinched a bronze medal in the World Archery Championship in Turin, beating Poland in the third-placed shoot-off in the recurve mixed-team tournament.

Godfrey and Oliver took a seven-point lead at the halfway stage and never looked back as they eventually won the bronze medal match 147-139

'They both shot really well all week, indeed, they're both having a great season, and this all bodes well in the preparations for next year's Olympics.

'It's been a good effort by all the British archers all week, and we can all return home greatly encouraged by the performances this week.'

“It was another good day at the office” – these were the familiar words used by Larry Godfrey at the end of the World Archery Championships which were held in Turin, Italy from 4th to 10th July. Larry came 6th in the FITA qualification round with a score of 1352, which means he can claim the 1350 FITA gold star award, only the second British archer to do so, Simon Terry being the first. This was a new county and regional record for the FITA round and he also claimed records for the Long Metric round – 665 and the FITA 90m distance – 329, the latter being a new British record. Larry carried on well during the individual head-to-head elimination rounds bowing out in the quarter finals when he faced Woojin Kim, a Korean who eventually came first achieving the gold medal. This meant that Larry was finally ranked 8th overall.

As top ranked British male archer, Larry was paired to shoot with Amy Oliver, top ranked British female archer, at the competition, in the Mixed Recurve Team event. This was the first World Championships which included mixed teams.

Larry (pictured with medal) and Amy shot their way to the finals and eventually won the bronze match giving Great Britain the first mixed team bronze medal at the World Championships.

Update on Worlds

3 personal best scores (90m distance-329, Long Metric distance-665, FITA score of 1352) World Rankings at event- 1st 90m distance score 6th qualification score
Quarterfinalist Individual elimination
Quarterfinalist Mens Team elimination
Bronze Mixed team elimination (with Amy Oliver)
 
   

Evesham National Series 23rd May 2011.

The first round of the national series got of to a windy start in Evesham. The morning session was reduced to only 3 dozen arrows and the the Head2Head was brought forward due to the difficult windy conditions.

Alison Williamson, Larry Godfrey, Adam Ravenscroft and Rikki Bingham have triumphed in the first Archery GB National Series shoot of the year, at windy Evesham.

In the men's recurve, the two time defending Grand Final champion Simon Terry failed to make the quarter-finals, after he was defeated by Michael Peart.

It was Larry who mastered the tricky conditions in this event, beating Cornwall's George Harding to clinch victory. Andrew Randall, from Derbyshire, and an up and coming junior, again highlighted his promise by taking third place. Julian Piper from Southampton was fourth.

Top eight point scorers (best three results count towards Grand Final qualification - top four from each section go through):-

Recurve men: Larry Godfrey 50, George Harding 47, Andrew Randall 45, Julian Piper 43, Pete Bland 41, Tom Barber 39, Michael Peart 37, Alan Wills 35.
   

World Cup 2011 held at Porec in Croatia 2nd - 7th May

Britain’s Larry Godfrey made a flying start to the first FITA World Cup event of the year, in Porec, Croatia, when he qualified for the head-to-head rounds in third place.

Larry finished the day in third place in the men’s recurve standings, behind the Korean duo Jin Hyek Oh and Dong Hyun Im, finishing with a total of 1346 – 13 points behind Jin, and six adrift of Dong, after shooting 90, 70, 50 and 30 metres.

Larry came 5th at the first leg of the World Cup 2011 held at Porec in Croatia 2nd - 7th May. This was after finishing 3rd overall in the qualifying FITA round, sandwiched between three Koreans. He shot his best ever score of 1346 for the FITA and 694 for the Short Metric. These are new county and regional records.

The team we've got around us now is fantastic. We've been working together for quite a long time, building up for London. As the men's team goes, the top guys are still the same team that went to Beijing, so we've got a lot of experience behind us. I'm confident in our team. We've got a good network behind us now, a good head coach, good staffing, so it's good.

We'll look forward to the Olympics in 2012, but this week we're focused on what you guys accomplish here.
   
European Grand Prix in Antalya 11 - 16 April 2011

Great Britain has won the gold medal in the men's recurve tournament, at the European Grand Prix in Antalya.

The trio of Simon Terry, Alan Wills and Larry Godfrey triumphed over a strong Italian line-up of Ilario du Bio, Marco Galiazzo and Mauro Nespoli by 222-219, giving them the perfect start to the international season.

In a tense final, Italy led by one point after the first end, with the GB trio fighting back to lead by two points at the halfway stage.

They were all square at 165-165 with one end to go, with Larry, Simon and Alan scoring four 10s from six arrows to clinch a three points victory.

"This is fantastic news, a real tonic for the team, and the squad, and a terrific start to the season," said Archery GB Performance Director Sara Symington.

"The lads have been shooting superbly well all week, and to round it off with this victory over the Italians is just a great result."
   
Larry Godfrey

gbsquad

 Commonwealth Games 2010

England men’s recurve team (pictured) hit the joint top score in their elimination match at Delhi’s Yamuna Sports Complex to secure a semi-final tie against Malaysia on Friday afternoon, while the women are also in the semis thanks to a bye.

Despite lying two points down at the half way point in their quarter-final against Cyprus, the trio of Simon Terry, Larry Godfrey and Alan Wills fired 218 to win by nine points and give them a shot at a medal tomorrow.

For Larry, it was merely “another good day at the office”.

“Everything went to plan,” he said. “We prepared well. We’re one of the best teams in the world and we want to stamp our mark on the competition.

“We’ve been together as a team now for four years and we know each other’s games well. I hope we can take today’s form into the semi-finals.”

England’s women recurve team are also into the semi-finals after getting a bye in this morning’s quarter-finals. They play Australia on Friday morning, after their victory over Canada.

MEANWHILE, The Earl of Wessex – Prince Edward – has lamented that archery would not be part of the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.

According to The Times of India, he was impressed with the archery facilities at the Delhi Games, and told Archery Association of India president VK Malhotra about his disappointment that the sport will not be featuring at the Games in four years time.