Compound great Lopez wins her ninth World Cup in emotional scenes

Sara Lopez won her staggering ninth Hyundai World Cup Final in Tlaxcala on Saturday further cementing her place as the greatest compound women archer of all time.

The Colombian overcame USA’s Alexis Ruiz and home crowd favourite Dafne Quintero of Mexico in the quarter and semi finals before beating World Cup Final debutant Meeri-Marita Paas of Estonia, reach the top of the podium of archery’s premier international circuit once again.

Lopez was visibly emotional in the aftermath and could barely sing her own national anthem with tears streaming down her face.

“I don't really know what happened with that last arrow,” said Lopez in the post match interview. “I think I just shot it without even thinking. It was only when I heard Jean (coach) calling the 10 and I knew it hit the 10. 

“The first day I was cheering her up because it was her (Paas) first final and I saw she was nervous. 

“At the end I was thinking, it does not matter if I don't win because I know I have made history, and the idea is to be happy and enjoy today and it worked in my favour."

You could say that Lopez, is the youngest seasoned veteran at 29, having been on the World Cup circuit since 2012 when she was a 17 year old.

But after competing in her dozenth World Cup season, her tenth Final and adding another major gold to her already stacked medal cabinet which includes a World Championship gold, Pan American Games gold and four Pan American championship medals (1 gold, 1 silver, 2 bronze), Lopez is showing in 2024 that class really is permanent.

Despite there being a positive, vociferous atmosphere in a warm Tlaxcala with two Mexicans in Andrea Becerra and Quintero vying for glory in front of a home crowd, there was almost an air of inevitability that the Yankton 2021 champion would repeat history especially by starting off with three perfect scores in her quarter final against American Ruiz, beating her 148-144.

Then there was a blip in her first end as she dropped a nine making 29, bettered by Becerra's 30 who despite never winning any major honours individually has been knocking on the door of gold medals having won silver in Shanghai and Yecheon this year in addition to her silver in last year’s World Championships. 

But that blip proved only to be minor as Lopez showed no signs of a collapse, responding with four consecutive perfect scores of her own which the 24 year old Becerra could not keep up with.

Dropping three nines in the first two ends of the gold medal match against the 2022 Indoor World Series silver medallist Paas meant Lopez was even more so on the back foot but as always, she stayed calmed, composed, steely, not letting emotions get the better of her and shot another three perfect ends, her overall score of 147 enough to edge out her Estonian counterpart’s 146.

The emotions however were fully out after the victory as Lopez announced that 2024 may have been the last we could see of her on the shooting line for a couple of years when asked when she plans on winning her 10th World Cup.

“I don't know if it will be next year or the other, but I will take decisions based on my personal career.

“I will transition to indoor and I will start focusing on that more and maybe next year or not... to be honest I don't know if I'll get it.

There was still something to cheer about for the hundreds of loud and proud home supporters in attendance at Tlaxcala as Quintero achieved bronze. Mexico were guaranteed the medal after Quintero and Becerra’s semi final defeats which saw the former climb onto the podium as she did in last year’s World Cup Final which was also held in Mexico (Hermosillo 2023). 

The action continues this weekend in Tlaxcala with the recurve men and women finals taking place tomorrow which you can stream on archery+.