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Jean Pizarro Latorre, Sara Lopez win compound golds as Mexico shines in recurve at Santo Domingo 2026

29 July 2026

Santo Domingo

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Puerto Rico's Jean Pizarro Latorre successfully defended his compound men's title after edging Mexico's Rodrigo Gonzalez De Alba in a shoot-off as the individual events concluded at the XXV Juegos Centroamericanos y del Caribe Santo Domingo 2026.

Tied at 144 after five ends, both archers shot nines in the shoot-off, but Pizarro's arrow landed closer to the centre to retain his title.

The Puerto Rican later admitted the one-arrow decider carried immense pressure.

"Tiebreakers are always interesting. You just try to do the best job possible, but you feel the weight of the entire year on that single arrow," Pizarro told the Puerto Rico Olympic Committee.

Guatemala's Jose Marcelo Del Cid claimed bronze with a 149-145 win over El Salvador's Douglas Vladimir Nolasco. Del Cid established an early advantage and maintained control throughout the match to secure Guatemala's place on the podium.

Colombia's Sara Lopez also returned to the top of the podium in the compound women's event.

Lopez repeated her Barranquilla 2018 triumph over Mexico's Andrea Maya Becerra Arizaga with a 147-145 victory to claim compound women's gold.

Afterwards, the Colombian acknowledged the challenge of facing the world number one.

"I knew how difficult it was going to be. Maya Becerra is the best archer in the world right now, and I knew what I had to do," Lopez told ODEBO.

Becerra's wait for a Central American and Caribbean Games individual gold continues, with the world number one settling for a third consecutive silver despite arriving in Santo Domingo as the top seed.

Mexico's Ana Sofía Hernández edged Venezuela's Ana Mendoza 144-143 to secure the bronze medal.

Mexico's recurve success continued through top seed Matias Grande, who overcame Colombia's Jorge Enriquez 6-4 to add the individual title to his mixed and men's team gold medals.

Despite standing on top of the podium, Grande admitted he was not entirely satisfied with his performance, pointing to the difficult conditions in Santo Domingo and the score he produced.

"The weather was really tough, and I know it's something I need to improve because even though I won, I feel like my score was low," Grande told Claro Sports.

"But I came here for a medal, I wanted to be champion, and I became the champion. I'd had a huge thorn in my side for the past three years because I hadn't been able to win a medal at the Central American Games."

Mexico added another podium through Raul Tadeo Rodríguez López, who defeated Cuba's Hugo Franco in a shoot-off. Rodriguez Lopez sealed victory with a 10, while Franco could only manage a nine.

Olympic medallist Alejandra Valencia Trujillo successfully defended her recurve women's title with a 6-2 victory over compatriot Ana Paula Vazquez Flores, repeating the same gold-silver finish the pair produced at Barranquilla 2018.

Having shared the field and the podium countless times, both archers knew exactly what to expect from the all-Mexican final.

"We already know what each of us is capable of, so our job was to focus on our own game," Valencia said.

Vazquez admitted facing her teammate always demands extra concentration but said the result was ultimately a victory for Mexico.

"Competing against Ale is always tough because you have to stay extra focused. The good thing is that, at the end of the day, whoever won, Mexico won, and that was the most important thing for us and for the country," she said.

"Of course, I would have loved to win, but if it wasn't going to be me, I'm happy it was Ale."

Colombia's Ana Maria Rendon prevented an all-Mexican podium by defeating Angela Ruiz Rosales 6-4 to secure the bronze medal.