Colombian archer Sara Lopez and Puerto Rican archer Jean Pizarro won the compound titles at the 25th Central American and Caribbean Games in 2026.
Pizarro successfully defended his title from San Salvador 2023, becoming the first Puerto Rican to be a two-time archery champion.
In the gold medal match, Pizarro faced Mexico’s Rodrigo Gonzalez de Alba, who started the match with a perfect score.
González lost his lead starting in the second end, and with an eight in the fourth end and trailing by two points in the overall score, things weren’t looking good for the Mexican.
However, a 7 by the Puerto Rican in the final end tied the score.
“I shot a bad arrow, and we went to a shoot off,” the Puerto Rican told his Olympic committee.
“It’s always an interesting moment during tiebreaker arrows.”
“It’s a 50-50 situation, and you try to do the best job possible, but yes, you feel the weight of the entire year on that single arrow.”
Both Gonzalez and Pizarro shot a 9 on their tiebreaker, but the Puerto Rican’s arrow landed closer to the center, allowing him to retain his Central Caribbean title.
“You get nervous, but we were able to put up a fight and do our best for Puerto Rico; we took home the gold again.”
In addition to the gold, Pizarro secured a spot for Puerto Rico in the compound men’s event at the 2027 Pan American Games in Lima.
“We qualified for the Pan American Games here; that was our first goal, even before the gold medal, so you can imagine how important it was for us to have qualified.”
Gonzalez’s silver medal marked the first individual medal of the Mexican athlete’s career.
The bronze went to Jose Marcelo del Cid of Guatemala, who defeated Douglas Nolasco of El Salvador with a final score of 149 to 145.
Sara Lopez faced Andrea Maya Becerra in the compound women’s final.
“I’m really excited because I knew how difficult it was going to be,” the Colombian told ODEBO.
“Maya Becerra is the best archer in the world right now, and we have a rivalry where sometimes she beats me and sometimes I beat her. I know how strong she is, so I knew what I had to do.”
Both archers started by shooting perfect scores in the first end.
In the second end, Becerra maintained her perfect score and took a two-point lead in the overall score, but that lead vanished in the next end.
Lopez didn’t let the opportunity slip away; she shot a perfect score in the fourth end and took a two-point lead that she was able to hold onto until the end.
“I think hearing the voices of my teammates and my family gave me a lot of peace and confidence,” said the Colombian athlete.
“I’ve spent the past year rebuilding my confidence, and they’ve played a key role in that.”
This victory marks the Colombian’s third Central American and Caribbean gold medal, having won the previous editions in 2018 and 2014.
The bronze medal went to another Mexican, Ana Sofía Hernández, who defeated Venezuela’s Ana Mendoza by a single point, 144–143.
Lopez also won the gold medal in the mixed team event alongside Pablo Gomez.
The duo defeated Guatemala’s El Cid and Danica Barrera by a margin of two points, 156 to 154.
This achievement is undoubtedly a confidence booster for the Colombian team, which will be seeking to qualify for the LA28 Olympics next year.
The bronze medal in the mixed team event in Santo Domingo went to Venezuela.
Ana Mendoza and Fraiber Rodriguez pulled off a surprise victory over the Mexican team of Becerra and González in a shoot-off, scoring 19 points and landing one arrow closer to the center.