Wild celebrations from Ellison after winning his sixth World Cup -

Brady Ellison bellowed his way back to coach Mel Nichols in the Nanjing recurve men gold medal match after securing his sixth World Cup Final title against Marcus D’Almeida.

It was a rematch of the world’s top two ranked recurve men archers contest 11 years ago in the Lausanne 2014 Archery World Cup Final, and like then, Ellison emerged victorious from the gloomy, cold cloud in China although this time it ended 6-4, not in a shootoff.

At 4-2 up heading into the fifth end, with D’Almeida dropping a 28, the American great needed at least a 9 having already scored 9, X in the set and did just that, landing the deciding arrow a centimetre or so above the top of the 10.

His wild roar in celebration signifying what it meant not only to win it but be back in the ultimatum of archery’s premier international circuit.

“I didn’t have any expectations coming in,” said Ellison on reflection. “I just wanted to stick to my game plan and keep the timing I had today, and it was good enough. I felt like I actually shot very well today, and my semi-final match against Mete [Gazoz] was one of the best I’ve had in years.”

“I hit the 10s when I needed 10s to tie or win sets. For the most part, I did that all day and when you’re tying a set every end and never really losing ground, it sets you up in good positions.”

“I’ve really felt good this back half of the year.”

As well as the best, Ellison, 36, was the oldest on stage today at the Nanjing Olympic Museum.

His semifinal counterparts were Thomas Chirault, 28, D’Almeida, 27, and Gazoz, 26, and even in the twilight of the career, the Paris 2024 Olympic silver medallist was a shining example in the afternoon that form is temporary, class is permanent.

His enjoyment of the sport too hasn’t fallen away with a humourous moment happening in his semifinal against Tokyo 2020 Olympic champion Gazoz.

Opening the match on a perfect score of 30, Ellison repeated the feat again in the second end, and Gazoz mirrored it – two of his in the X-ring.

Rather than the usual walk back to the coaching box, the American made sure to walk over to his Turkish counterpart for a congratulatory high five, the pair truly living the moment as world class archers.

“All of us just came back from the Archery Premier League, right? We got to hang out and spend a lot of time in India together, where we normally wouldn’t at the World Cups.”

“It kind of created more of a friendship with those guys. It’s cold, raining, and windy, and we just shot 30-30, the first one of the day.”

“I felt we needed to celebrate.”

Brazil’s D’Almeida was also all smiles despite picking up his third straight silver at World Archery events in the space of a month following the Gwangju 2025 World Championships and San Cristobal 2025 Pan American Field Championships – the latter an event he specifically entered to try to become world number one.

The past six months however – which has also included golds in the South American Open Championships and Antalya 2025 [World Cup stage 3] – make him think he is the top recurve men archer at the end of the outdoor season.

“I think I’m the best for this year because I got the gold in the stage, I got silver here, I got silver medal in the World Championship, so I think I’m the best for this year for my consistency.”