The Pan American and Parapan American Championships were held in Santiago Chile from November 21 to 27. A total of 331 athletes from 27 countries participated in this great event.
In the Pan American Championship there were a total of 6 categories participating in recurve, compound and barebow.
Barebow
All four American archers made it to the medal matches in the barebow women category.
Christina Lyons faced Fawn Girard for the gold medal. The first set was tied by both archers with 27 points to take a set point. In the next three sets, Lyons took the lead in points. The final score was 7-1 in favor of Lyons.
The bronze medal final featured Susan Snider and Maggie Brensinger. Brensinger took the victory 6-0.
In the men’s category, three archers from the United States and one from Brazil competed in the finals. Jose Ricardo Andrade (Brazil) won his ticket to the gold medal final by defeating first place qualifier Matt Yacca (USA) in the semifinals with a final score of 6-0. The gold medal match featured Marcus Cooley (USA) against Jose Ricardo Andrade. The victory went to Andrade with a final score of 6-0.
Matt Yacca and Rick Stonebraker competed for the bronze medal. Yacca took the bronze with a final score of 7-1.
Compound
In the compound men, Miguel Becerra (Mexico) and Nick Kappers (USA) faced each other for the gold medal in a very close match. In the first three ends, both archers shot the same amount of points for a cumulative score of 89 points. The fourth end was decisive to define the winner of the Pan American title. In this end, Becerra had 29 points against a perfect score of Kappers. In the fifth end both archers shot 30 points but with the point difference from the fourth end, Kappers took his first major victory with a final score of 149-148.
Sawyer Sullivan (USA) and Uriel Olvera (Mexico) faced each other for the bronze medal. From the first end, Sullivan was accumulating points of advantage and at the end of the fifth end the final score was 148-143 in favor of Sullivan who took the bronze medal.
In the compound women, Paige Pearce (USA) faced Paola Corado (El Salvador). At the end of the fifth end, the final score was 146-142 in favor of Field champion Paige Pearce who took the Pan American gold.
In the final for bronze, two Colombian archers faced each other for third place. Maria Valentina Suarez started taking the lead in the first three ends against World Cup champion Sara Lopez. By the fourth end this advantage disappeared and both archers tied at 116 points. In the fifth end Lopez shot a perfect score. Suarez could not keep up with her teammate and the match ended 146-144 in favor of Lopez.
Recurve
Marcus D’Almeida (Brazil) and Hugo Franco (Cuba) faced each other for the recurve men’s Pan American title. The first 2 set points were taken by Franco but by the third set, D’Almeida caught up with his opponent. The score was tied 3-3. In the next set, D’Almeida took the 2 set points with a perfect score and in the fifth and final set, with one point difference in total arrows, D’Almeida again took the set points for a final score of 7-3.
Matias Grande (Mexico) and Jorge Enriquez (Colombia) faced each other for the bronze medal. It was a very close match that started with the advantage for Grande in the first set. This advantage quickly vanished in the second set where Enriquez took the points and tied the score. For the third and fourth sets both archers scored the same amount of points. The match was defined in the fifth set with a one point difference for a final score of 6-4 in favor of Matias Grande.
The gold final in the recurve women was between Ana Paula Vazquez (Mexico) and Ane Marcelle Dos Santos (Brazil). From the beginning it was a very close match, both archers took one set point. Dos Santos took the points in the second set. Both archers tied in the third set for a cumulative score of 2-4 in favor of Dos Santos. The fourth set points were taken by Vazquez and the score tied 4-4. In the final and fifth set, Vazquez again took the points and won the match 6-4.
The bronze final was between Casey Kaufhold (USA) and Eleanor Brug (Canada). Kaufhold took the victory 7-1.
The next Pan American Championships will be held April 8-14, 2024 in Medellin, Colombia.