Imogen hits the mark in South Dakota

A DEADEYE local archer is still feeling the buzz of her debut appearance representing her country, following the performance of her life in the brisk air of Yankton, South Dakota.

Geelong Archers and Australia representative Imogen Grzemski took on challengers from all nationalities to claim an impressive fourth place finish at the Field Archery World Championship last month, an experience she will never forget.

“I prepared for this tournament from the day that I found out that I had made the team, and every day since then I was just grinding, it was almost three months of straight field prep,” Grzemski said.

“It was about a week before I left for the US that it really hit me that this was happening.

“But I was able to translate the nerves into excitement and to make it into finals was completely unexpected and surreal.”

Winchelsea-born Grzemski finished seventh in the qualifying round to set up a knockout clash with Romanian Beatrice Miklos, defeating her 86-74. Next up, was a nail-biting 81-81 shootout quarterfinal win against France’s Audrey Machinet.

The Winch local’s dream run would end in the semi-finals to Italian Roberta Di Francesco, going down 57-65, and then 47-54 to Great Britain’s Louisa Piper in the bronze medal match just missing out on the podium.

However, Grzemski said the support from her fellow Australians was unbelievable and followed her directions perfectly.

“It was an incredible team, I couldn’t have had a better group behind me,” she added.

“There were a lot of new faces, but a lot of new friends. If you watch my final match, I was so excited; I had a constant smile on my face.

“Right before I went into it, I told the whole team to be as loud as they could, as obnoxious as they could, and they sure pulled through, I heard the ‘Aussie’ chant continuously and I’m pretty sure one of the guys lost his voice.”

Imogen said it was her final year in the junior circuit but expects the goals to become even greater in the senior ranks.

World Cup, Olympic and perhaps Commonwealth Games (not an official sport currently) teams are on the agenda for Grzemski.