Qualification drew to a close at the World Archery Field Championships ©World Archery

American Brady Ellison maintained his place at the top of the men’s recurve qualification standings after the second day of the World Archery Field Championships in Bray in Ireland.

Ellison had scored a total of 383 points yesterday to lead and picked up where he left off today, ending the qualification stage of the event with a final total of 761.

The American, winner of a fourth Archery World Cup final gold medal in Odense in Denmark earlier this week, finished a long way clear of his nearest rival Sebastian Rohrberg of Germany.

Rohrberg closed on a tally of 729 to end second in qualifying, with France’s Jean-Charles Valladont completing the top three on 726.

Massimiliano Mandia of Italy, a bronze medallist at the 2014 edition of the competition, slipped from his overnight position of second to end fourth, scoring 715.

Amy Oliver held on to qualify top of the women’s recurve event, with the Briton ending on 695 points after the two days.

Italy’s Jessica Tomasi and Slovenia’s Ana Umer completed the top three, finishing on 681 and 679 respectively.

Recurve is the only discipline to be held at the Championships which features on the Olympic programme.

Compound archery competition is also taking place at the Killruddery House and Gardens in Bray, which is just south of Dublin.

Amy Oliver finished top of the women's recurve qualification standings ©World Archery
Amy Oliver finished top of the women's recurve qualification standings ©World Archery

The United States’ Dave Cousins and Jesse Broadwater topped the men’s qualifying, scoring 829 and 826 respectively.

Their compatriot Jamie Van Natta finished two points clear of Mexico’s Linda Ochoa-Anderson in the women’s event, ending the two days on 780.

Field archery, part of the World Games programme, includes up and down shooting and cross-slopes, with unmarked distance targets and challenges of light, dark and shadow also needing to be negotiated.

To be successful, archers need to acquire skills known as "fieldcraft".

Archers usually shoot at black and yellow coloured target faces, set at distances of up to 60 metres.

The targets have six concentric rings, four black and two gold.

The inner gold ring scores six points, outer gold ring five points and black rings four to one point.

Individual elimination rounds are scheduled to take place tomorrow, with the finals due to be held on Saturday (October 1) and Sunday (October 2).