Halifax: 2022 Pan American Youth and Masters Championships Recap

On the east coast of Canada in the province of Nova Scotia, is the city that hosted the 2022 Pan American Youth and Masters Championships, the city of Halifax. In this six-day competition, a total of 139 athletes from 10 countries of the Americas competed in the recurve bow, compound bow and for the first time barebow divisions in the under 18, under 21 and masters categories.

Qualification rounds

On the second day of competition, the qualification rounds of all categories were shot in difficult windy conditions, especially in the morning session. Some even compared it to Copenhagen 2015.

Despite the relentless wind, there were those who took it lightly and focused instead on enjoying the competition, and with this mindset they achieved good results at the end of the day. Carlos Vaca (Mexico) was one of them. “I knew I was going to shoot low scores and I was okay with that because of the wind. I just focused on having fun,” said the Mexican who placed himself first in the recurve U21 men qualifier.

Archers from Brazil, Colombia, Mexico and USA were in the top positions of the qualification rounds; and despite the wind, there were new Pan American records in Halifax.

New records of the Pan American Championships

Recurve

50+ women – Individual 60m round: Susan Bock (USA) – 593 points
50+ mixed team – Round 60m teams: Susan Bock + Mark Williams (USA) – 1181 points

Compound

U18 mixed team – Round 50m teams: Adriana Castillo + José Cuellar (Mexico) – 1260 points
U18 mixed team – 16 Arrows, team match: Leeana Burley + William Fowler (USA) – 152 points

Barebow

U21 women – Individual 50m round: Anastacia Godman (USA) – 500 points
U18 men – Individual 50m round: Max Rossiter (USA) – 464 points
U18 women – Individual 50m round: Erin Heyob (USA) – 563 points
50+ men – Individual 50m round: Rick Stonebraker (USA) – 612 points
50+ women – Individual 50m round: Jenifer Stoner (USA) – 522 points

Teams

The first medals won in the championships were the bronze medals. In the recurve U21 category, Argentina (in the men) and USA (in the women) took these medals.

Argentina faced the host country Canada in a hard-fought semi-final. Canada was in the lead in the first two sets, and by the third one they only needed one more set point to secure the victory. Argentina did not leave things so easy for team Canada. In the next two sets, they took both set points and forced the match to a shoot-off. In the end, the victory went to Canada who faced Mexico in the gold medal match. Mexico won gold against Canada 6-0.

In the women’s semifinal, USA faced Colombia in the U21 recurve category. In the first two sets, the score was tied at two set points each. But Colombia took the points in the next two sets and won the match 6-2. In the next match, Colombia faced Mexico for the gold medal. Mexico kept the silver and Colombia the gold by winning the match 6-0.

Team medals

Recurve U21 men: Gold Mexico, Silver Canada, Bronze Argentina
Recurve U21 women: gold Colombia, silver Mexico, bronze United States

Mixed Teams

Five categories participated in this event including all recurve bow and two compound bow categories. The first medals to be awarded were also bronze. Canada took the bronze in the compound U21 and U18 categories. Brazil faced Canada in the recurve U18 category and won the match 6-0. Another bronze medal match that finished 6-0 was the recurve U21 match between USA and Colombia. The match ended in favor of the Americans who took the medal back home.

In the recurve 50+ category, the team from the Virgin Islands, US faced Argentina in the semifinal. This was the second time we saw Argentina fighting the win in a shoot-off. With a difference of one point, Argentina won the shoot-off and took the pass to the gold final. The Virgin Islands kept the bronze medal.

In the compound side, team USA won the gold against Mexico 152-150 in the U18 category and against El Salvador 156-155 in the U21 category. In the recurve 50+, USA also took the gold: this time against Argentina 6-0. “It was very good…” said Susan Bock, recurve archer from the USA. “…except for the yellow cards; It took a minute to settle down from, but it worked out, we had plenty of time. The wind kept changing from arrow to arrow, so it was just quick, strong shots” she commented.

Mexico took two golds in the mixed team competition. In recurve U18, they won the match 6-0 against USA and in recurve U21 they won against Brazil in a very close match. In the first set, Mexico took the two set points. Brazil tied the match in the second set by winning the two available set points. In the third and fourth set, both teams had the same number of arrow points and the winner was decided in a shoot-off. With a difference of one point, Mexico took the gold medal.

Mixed team medals

Recurve U21: gold Mexico, silver Brazil, bronze USA
Recurve U18: gold Mexico, silver USA, bronze Brazil
Recurve 50+: gold USA, silver Argentina, bronze Virgin Islands, US
Compound U21: gold USA, silver El Salvador, bronze Canada
Compound U18: gold USA, silver Mexico, bronze Canada

Individual Finals

The last day of competition gave us our Pan American champions.

One of the matches that surprised us was Rick Stonebraker against Daniel Weiss, both from the USA. Stonebraker qualified first in the barebow 50+ men category. He won his semifinal 6-0 against Canadian Lloyd Polack, but the final for the gold was not so easy. Weiss started by winning the first set by one point difference. In the second set, Stonebraker took both points and tied the match 2-2. The third set was won again by Weiss and the fourth set defined the match. Daniel Weiss was crowned the champion of the 50+ barebow category.

The gold medal match in the compound U21 women category was one of the closest matches of the championships. Top-ranked Isabella Otter of the USA faced Paola Corado of El Salvador, who won her first international title not more than a month ago against Toja Ellison. Corado started the match with a two point lead. In the second end these two points became three. In the third end, Otter found herself a single point behind Corado and in the fourth this difference turned in her favor. In the fifth and last end, Corado took a point advantage with which she tied the match at 135. A shoot-off defined the match. With a 9 Isabella Otter from the United States won the Pan American title.

Another match that was defined by a shoot-off was that of Ana Luiza Sliachticas Caetano from Brazil against Paola Saucedo from Mexico in the recurve U21 women category. Saucedo started by winning the match with two set points. In the second set both archers had 26 points and took one set point each. The third set was won again by Saucedo; she was only one set point away from the victory. With a 27 in the fourth set and a 26 in the fifth set, Caetano took enough set points to force a shoot-off. Both arrows of the tiebreaker hit the 9, but Caetano’s arrow was closer to the center and gave her the victory.

Individual medals