Two podium places despite falling down the stairs

Created: 07/17/2022, 10:00 am

By: Bernd Heinzinger

With the bow in the forest: Erwin Sedleczki won two medals.

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Erdinger Erwin Sedleczki landed a great success with two medals at the European Championships of the International Field Archery Association (IFAA) in Confolens, France.

Erding – In spite of some adversities, the 54-year-old took third place among 49 participants in long archery and thus achieved his first podium finish in an international competition.

Things went even better for the team: together with Joerg Schellmann and Joachim Geyer, Sedleczki even won gold.

When Erdinger was not nominated for the longbow team at the European Championships in Oberwiesental after quarrels with the German association, he switched four years ago to the German Chapter of the Archery Association Europe (AAE) and has been active for the association ever since.

After a long and stressful journey to the venue, Sedleczki started the individual competition with a good result.

The first day was the "3-arrow round".

When aiming at the three-dimensional animal dummies, each participant had three arrows ready.

The optimal result was a hit on the first attempt in the heart area of ​​the target.

In the end, the Erdinger had 432 points, which was enough for ninth place in the intermediate classification.

On the second day, the shooters each aimed two arrows at their targets, and every attempt counted.

With 262 points, the 54-year-old climbed up to fourth place.

But then a painful mishap happened in the accommodation.

Sedleczki fell down the stairs and injured his elbow and knee.

"But the most important thing was that the equipment that we had in our hands didn't break," he said.

Equipped with painkillers, he started the third day.

In the pouring rain, the hunter competition was on the program: one arrow per target was the requirement.

Sedleczki did not achieve his best result by far and had to let the opponents in first and second place go.

The third, Simon Ducos from France, was still within striking distance with a lead of 38 points.

At the end there was again the "3-Arrow Round", and here the Erdinger showed himself in top form.

After four goals he had already caught up the deficit to bronze and passed the Frenchman with the best result of 468 points: “I felt a bit sorry for him.

But I'm just super happy that it was enough for me," Sedleczki summed up.

For the team competition, the results of the three best individual shooters were added together.

Geyer as overall first and Schellmann (8th place) brought in their results alongside Sedleczki, and the German Chapter of the AAE confidently landed at the top of the podium.

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Sedleczki, a member of the Sportschützen Langenpreising and Wilhelm Tell Oberding clubs, was delighted to receive two medals.

“The 13-hour journey was definitely worth it.

Without the fall, maybe even silver would have been possible, but I'm so happy," he said.

It was an expensive adventure, because each participant had to bear the travel costs and accommodation himself.

In addition to the impressions and the medals, the 54-year-old still has a serious bruise on his knee as a memory: "But it will be fine, I definitely can't complain."