At the Olympics, two of Vikström’s bow guns broke their lower blades. After the Tokyo Games, the equipment manufacturer changed from American to Korean.
Tokyo Olympics, July 28, 2021.
Archery Antti Vikström was in front of a hard place. In the playoff, the Malaysian came up Khairul Anuar Muhamadsilver medalist at previous World Championships.
However, the match went well for Vikström. After four sets, he led the race 5–3 and a draw from the next set would have been enough to win. However, for the second shot, something incredible happened: Vikström’s lower spring cracked.
– In the race there is 20 seconds to shoot the arrow alternately when shooting. I was stretching and aiming as the shoulder went across. At that point, I had spent 10-12 seconds, took a spare spring two meters away, and I just started to put an arrow on the tendon when time ran out, Vikström says.
To protocol M as miss or passing shot.
We ended up repeating one arrow. Mohamad fired ten, Vikström’s nine and the Finnish Olympic Games ended there.
– Yes, after that it was very annoying and for a long time, but at that moment I think I really got the thing well. Many have wondered to me that I took it so lightly when my shoulder broke, Vikström recalls.
He thinks the Malaysian would have fallen without the crash. The resistance in the next round was also defeatable, but the third round would probably have become a pickup. Instead of a ninth, there would have been an opportunity, now the ranking was 33rd.
And that’s not all. Vikström experienced the same fate a few days earlier in official practice, where the shoulder of the first spring cracked. Vikström moved the sight and stabilizers to the spare spring.
In the qualifiers, however, the target started to loosen and was reflected in the results. Vikström takes the looseness of the target fixed with hexagon socket screws.
However, cracking of the spring gun blade is rare. During Vikström’s 20-year career, it happened for the first time – twice, at the Olympics. It is no wonder, then, that after the Games, the equipment manufacturer went into exchange, the American was replaced by the Korean.
Aiming for the top 16 in the European Championships
This week, the European Championships for the sport will be shot in Munich.
It would be important for Vikström to redeem his place at next year’s European Games. In the championship, the goal is to get into the top 16 and there are seams even better.
However, the biggest goal is the 2024 Olympics in Paris.
Vikström is seriously preparing for them. He works as a doctor at the Haapavesi Health Center from Monday to Wednesday, as well as occasional emergency services at Oulaskangas Hospital.
There will be 20 practice hours per week, of which 13-14 will be archery. In addition to shooting, Vikström goes to the gym, skiing, cycling, swimming and doing mental training.
While the Tokyo experiences are annoying, he has gotten over them.
– I won’t be stuck if something goes wrong. I’m good at accepting that it was and went and the next arrow is a new opportunity. It also works in the direction that even if you have shot eight tens, you should seriously shoot it with the ninth arrow. It doesn’t go there in the ten by itself.