Guatemala wins maiden World Cup stage medal with compound men’s team gold

Guatemala pulled off a shock victory over Mexico in the compound men’s team final while USA and Colombia also topped the rostrum for team gold at stage three of the 2023 Hyundai Archery World Cup.

The eighth-seeded trio composed of Julio Barillas, Jose Marcelo Del Cid and Pedro Salazar beat Mexico by five points to claim the country’s first World Cup stage medal.

“I dropped to my knees and I’m so happy,” said Barillas. “It means a lot to me because I’ve been shooting for 15 years and it was a dream to come to Medellin to win a gold.”

Salazar added that the debut gold was just reward for a lot of hard work and hopes more medals will follow when the team head to Paris for stage four in August.

The day started with another upset as USA pipped Colombia to gold in the compound women’s team event.

In a dramatic contest which swayed one way and then the other, USA upstaged the hosts to win their second women’s team medal of the season following gold in Antalya.

“It was a crazy match,” said Alexis Ruiz, who played a key role in guiding teenage teammates Olivia Dean and Liko Arreola to victory. “We showed it’s not over until it’s over and we made two good shots each to win.”

Sara Lopez may have missed out on gold at the beginning of the day but she was not to be denied in the compound mixed team event, as Colombia beat Mexico by two points in a nervy final.

Needing a 10 to make sure of victory, Sebastian Arenas duly delivered, much to the relief of an emotional Lopez.

“I am very happy,” said Lopez. “The crowd of Colombia always cheers us on, I made a few mistakes but I did well and Sebastian helped me so we are very happy to win today.”

“It was a very interesting and tight match but I was just focused on my arrows and Sara helped me to do my best,” Arenas added.

Competition continues in Medellin with the compound individual finals on Saturday afternoon. 

Podiums: Medellin 2023

Check full results on the World Archery website.

Compound men’s team

1.  Guatemala (Julio Barillas, Jose Marcelo Del Cid, Pedro Salazar)
2.  Mexico (Miguel Becerra, Del Rio Juan, Sebastian Garcia)
3.  India (Ojas Pravin Deotale, Prathamesh Samadhan Jawkar, Abhishek Verma)

Compound women’s team

1.  USA (Liko Arreola, Olivia Dean, Alexis Ruiz)
2.  Colombia (Juliana Gallego Lopez, Sara Lopez, Alejandra Usquiano)
3.  India (Parneet Kaur, Aditi Gopichand Swami, Jyothi Surekha Vennam)

Compound mixed team

1.  Colombia (Sara Lopez, Sebastian Arenas)
2.  Mexico (Dafne Quintero, Sebastian Garcia)
3.  Estonia (Lisell Jaatma, Robin Jaatma)