Ajay Scott secured his first international individual gold in the most thrilling circumstances at the Swiss Open Lausanne 2025 compound men final on Saturday night.
Against Nicolas Girard, the Brit mirrored every single set from the 2025 World outdoors champion, as they both ended the five set match 29, 30, 29, 30, 30 for a 148-148 tie.
With 13 10s a piece, averaging an arrow of 9.81, they gave a wry smile and handshake once the target judge announced the result, acknowledging each other’s excellence at the World Archery Excellence Centre to match the name of their surroundings.
The shoot-off proved to be not their sharpest efforts however, as Scott landed a nine just above the 10-ring and Girard a well below nine as gasps escaped the mouths of those in attendance.
They were just the fifth and sixth nines of the 32 arrows shot that evening.
“I don’t know if it was expected or not but I felt really good coming into it,” said the Rhine-Ruhr 2025 FISU World University Games runner-up Scott. “Practise at home was good. The qualifications felt really nice, I equaled my personal best and then the head-to-heads just kept flowing so I was really happy about that also.”
“The bow’s different but nothing else really. I’m just going through my same old routine and it’s paying off I guess. I said to myself ‘keep it going, keep strong, keep it pulling’.”
“I finished the shot [in the shoot-off] as well which is what I’ve got in my head when I’m shooting.”
As well as the first British archer from any senior category to have won Lausanne since it was incorporated into the Indoor World Series three years ago, last night marked the only time Scott has gotten the better of Girard.
The current European Indoor champion beat Scott twice last year on the circuit in Nimes [147-149] and then GT Open [148-150] before defeating him outdoors at the Madrid 2025 World Cup in July.
