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Matias Grande storms to debut World Cup gold at Madrid 2025

13 juillet 2025

Madrid, Spain

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Matias Grande and his coach David Velez celebrating.

Matias Grande joined the list of Hyundai Archery World Cup stage winners on Sunday, securing his first individual gold medal at Madrid 2025 – the fourth and final stage of the season.

The 21-year-old Mexican archer swept aside Olympic team silver medallist Baptiste Addis, marking the biggest achievement of his career so far. He had never previously won a tournament outside the Americas as an individual.

After a tight semifinal win over Paris 2024 Olympic team champion Kim Je Deok, Grande turned up the pressure on Addis – who was appearing in his third medal match of the day – shooting a perfect 30 and two 29s. Addis managed a 29 and two 28s in reply.

Grande by name, grand by nature.

“It was just me and my target at 70 metres,” said Grande, who was loudly celebrated throughout the afternoon by the Mexican team. “I was thinking about how to make a great shot, taking a very deep breath – and that’s it.”

“That’s all I needed to do, because I was very confident about it. That was a very good key for me. It was not in my plans to try learning things about me in those situations, but I think I managed it very well and that’s it. I am very happy about it.”

Wind picked up over the Explanada Puente del Rey in the afternoon finals, but for Grande, overcoming stage nerves was the bigger challenge.

“I think in all these scenarios, I used to start shooting with a bit of nervousness and anxiety,” he said. “But today, when I woke up, I said: ‘It will be different.’”

“I didn’t expect a result or a medal. I just wanted to be happy, to enjoy it. I managed it very well. I enjoyed it a lot, I shot with great archers, so I am very happy.”

“I’m still preparing for future competitions, World Championships in Korea, so I think I am going to do very well, because I will keep training and pushing.”

Baptiste Addis (silver) and Matias Grande (gold) on the podium for the Mexican national anthem.

Grande first made his mark internationally with bronze at the Santiago 2022 Pan American Championships and shared mixed team gold at the same event with Mexican legend Alejandra Valencia. Since then, his reputation has only grown – particularly in mixed team events alongside Valencia – with wins at the Central American and Caribbean Games in 2023, Yecheon 2024 and Central Florida 2025.

He is also the reigning continental champion, having won individual gold at the Pan American Championships last year.

Grande nearly won in Shanghai – stage two of this year’s World Cup – but ran into Kim Woojin at his best in the final. His quarterfinal win this week in the Spanish capital over Brady Ellison signalled he was ready to go one step further this time.

Madrid now holds special meaning for him – and he plans to celebrate accordingly.

“I’ll celebrate by eating some jamón ibérico,” Grande said with a smile.

In the women’s event, Kang Chaeyoung took a dramatic shoot-off win over a 17-year-old Hsu Hsin-tzu of Chinese Taipei to claim recurve women’s gold. Both archers landed near the edge of the 10-ring, and after a careful measure by the judge, Kang’s arrow was declared closer.

Already the winner of the Hyundai Archery World Cup Final in Moscow 2019 and Hermosillo 2023, Kang will now look to secure a third circuit title at this year’s finale in Nanjing.

With the four stages of the 2025 Hyundai Archery World Cup now complete, all eyes turn to the Hyundai World Archery Championships in Gwangju, Korea, followed by October’s World Cup Final.