Baumert would need every bit of her learned experience to navigate the World Games, where her and Jackson were part of a five-strong French team. Chengdu would present one of the toughest weeks in competition for any archery field, with temperatures often nudging 37°C and humidity that could top 80% in the morning – not to mention the snakes.
In such difficult conditions, all archers had to dig extremely deep to maintain focus.
“I had no particular expectations in terms of performance for China. What struck me most upon arriving was the stifling heat. I had some concerns about my shooting. David reassured me at the time by telling me to wait and see how it would go.”
The barebow finals were held on the last competition day of all, and Baumert, after qualifying second, had made the final four against competitors she knew well. She shot an exhibition match against Noziglia which the Italian dominated – while the result barely mattered, it was a psychological blow.
“I didn’t shoot very well, but as [coach] Christine [Gauthe] pointed out, I wasn’t really in the match – it didn’t represent anything concrete in my head, so I couldn’t fully commit to it. Too bad. It’s over.”
On a finals day with black skies gathering over Chengdu, her first semifinal against the experienced American Fawn Girard was marked by rain so torrential that the match was actually stopped halfway through.
“The height of my arrows changed but it was OK, I just compensated. It was hard not because of the rain, but because of the storm… I’m very scared of it. Rain itself doesn’t bother me for shooting. But thunder, that’s another story.”
“Honestly, I don’t understand why they made us shoot that match against Fawn under those conditions. It was clearly a duel where the one who adapted best would win. And in the end, maybe it became the longest match in history – right?”
When it finally restarted, Girard could not recover after struggling at the first two targets, and Baumert, still not at her best, had enough to push through, 43-34.
But the final would be against Cinzia Noziglia, perhaps the greatest barebow shooter of the modern era looking for her third consecutive title. While the Italian has a similar philosophy on podiums and medals, the standards she sets for herself left no doubt as to why she had come to China to compete.
