Sara Lopez had an historical year in 2015. She won the Archery World Cup Final for a second consecutive year, becoming only the third athlete and the first woman to do so, broke every major world record and held a monopoly on the number one spot in the compound women’s world ranking in 2015.
The public vote for the World Games Athlete of the Year award runs until 31 January 2016 and you can vote on the organisation’s website. Meanwhile, here’s five more reasons you should be voting for Sara…
1. She’s won, a lot
The second gold medal at the Archery World Cup Final in a row capped a season in which Lopez also took bronze at the World Archery Championships in Copenhagen, individual wins at the Shanghai and Medellin stages of the Archery World Cup tour – and a gold and a silver at the youth worlds in Yankton… That’s a lot of silverware.
2. She’s Raising the Game
Sara’s world-record scores in 2015 included three 72-arrow qualification rounds, first at 706 points, then 708 and then 713, and a 1424 on the 1440 Round, to go along with the 15-arrow match record she set in 2013.
Without a doubt, Sara has raised the game at the very top level of the compound women’s competition.
3. She’s just 20 years old
Archers that have been shooting for twice as long as Sara haven’t achieved half as much. As part of a new caste of young compound archers, in Colombia with teammate Alejandra Usquiano, like Mike Schloesser, Christopher Perkins, Stephan Hansen and others, she’s arguably collected the largest roll of honours in the shortest period of time.
4. She represents the sport
Compound archery is a core sport at the World Games and, in Cali in 2013, it drew audiences of up to 5,000 per session. In this Athlete of the Year voting, Sara represents not only herself – but the whole sport! Let’s show them how many archers there are.
5. She’s not done yet…
Despite all the medals, all the records – and her young age – trainee doctor Sara’s still got her sights on more. After the Archery World Cup Final in Mexico City, she told us that she wanted to find the same success on the indoor circuit.
She’s not going anywhere soon…
…So what are you waiting for? Vote now
