Puebla 2026: The five archers to watch at stage one of the World Cup

The 2026 Hyundai Archery World Cup officially kicks off on Tuesday with Puebla the location for the year's first gathering of the international premier circuit.

There are over 200 archers set to grace the Jardin Del Arte Puebla shooting line from 32 nations but only four will attain the tickets to the World Cup Final in September back in Mexico but in the northern city of Saltillo.

Brady Ellison in recurve men and 2025 archer of the year Emircan Haney in compound men are the only two World Cup reigning champions competing next week with the recurve women winner An San still to complete trials in Korea and Mariana Bernal not in Mexico's compound women squad this season. 

Ellison and Haney are of course worth watching but scroll on for another five names that could potentially be the few to triumph.

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1. Ajay Scott

Who? The Shanghai 2025 mixed team gold medallist and Rhine-Ruhr 2025 FISU World University Games silver medallist.

Why? He's still only 22 but Scott's standing in compound men has risen considerably the last 12 months. The Briton joined compatriot Ella Gibson in every single World Cup stage last year and the pair won the all-important, Olympic-tinged mixed team gold in Shanghai, Great Britain's first in the event on tour in six years.

Scott came close to individual gold at Rhine-Ruhr, losing to India's Sahil Rajesh Jadhav by just a single point - 149-148 - and is still searching for a major outdoors title but if we're going by his recent best indoor season then that could change.

He won the Swiss Open Lausanne 2025 in October before getting silver at Rio Indoor 250 and then dropped 900 at The Vegas Shoot making it to the fifth end of the Championship shootdown. He is seemingly growing in confidence on the line in every competition. Puebla could be his outdoors moment.

Scott's first World Cup was Shanghai 2024. 

2. Sara Lopez

Who? The greatest compound women archer of all time.

Why? Sara Lopez is back... kind of. A year ago marks the last time we saw the Colombian shoot on the circuit in Central Florida 2025 and although that doesn't sound like the longest of absences from something, it feels so much longer from her.

The World Cup has formed a major part of her legacy, winning nine Finals, the most of any archer since the competition's inception in 2006 from any category. Before 2025, she had taken the seven prior overall golds in consecutive years and to not see her in Nanjing let alone the other stages took some getting used to from archers and fans alike.

She will be keen to get back to adding on an already formidable record on the tour as well as reestablishing herself as Colombia's number one compound women archer leading up to the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for LA28.

Sara Lopez has a 90 per cent return win rate in 10 World Cup Finals, only not getting gold in Paris 2023.

3. Baptiste Addis 

Who? The 2025 young archer of the year.

Why? When talking about the hottest prospects in the sport, Addis is right up there. Archers dream of climbing onto an Olympic podium their whole careers with most not achieving that goal but the 19 year old recurve men archer has already done that as a teenager, winning silver as part of France's recurve men's team in Paris 2024. 

On top of that he won his maiden World Cup individual medals last year, bagging bronze in Antalya, silver in Madrid and also reached the stage finals in Shanghai - albeit coming away empty handed in China - making him one of the most consistent archer across the 2025 season.

It was close but no cigar for Addis in reaching an individual top podium though and much like Scott, he seems to be maturing rapidly after every competition, with everything pointing towards an incoming big individual outdoors honour very soon. Will it be in Puebla?

Baptiste Addis was also a part of France's gold medal winning recurve men team at the Essen 2024 European Archery Championships.

4. Hsu Hsin-tzu 

Who? The 2024 recurve women under-18 Asian Youth Archery champion.

Why? Since the Los Angeles 1984 Olympic Games Korea has dominated the recurve women scene - to put it mildly - in both team and individual events but last year Hsin-Tzu and Chinese Taipei certainly gave them a run for their money. 

Hsin-Tzu - just at 18 - played her part in Gwangju when Chinese Taipei upset the favourites at their home World Championships, beating the Olympic pedigree proven Kang Chaeyoung, Lim Sihyeon and An San 5-4.

On her own however, the Madrid 2025 silver medallist was ever so close to making an even bigger statement by pushing Tokyo 2020 champion An San to the most dramatic gold medal shootoff of the year in Nanjing but failed to take the chance presented. There will be no Koreans to halt Hsu however in Puebla with their selection process still ongoing and so with another year of experience under her young belt, she is certainly no longer a dark horse next week.

2025 was Hsu Hsin-Tzu's maiden year on the premier international circuit. 

5. Liko Arreola

Who? The youngest individual medalist ever at a World Cup.

Why? Liko Arreola has regularly been touted as the next big thing to come out of USA's rich history in compound ever since she became the youngest ever archer to post a 900 at The Vegas Shoot five years ago - extraordinarily at 13 years of age.

Two years later, the Hawaiian based archer secured unprecedented double golds in her debut World Cup at Medellin 2023, stuffing the Colombian crowd's cheers by beating their compound women's team 233-231 and then pipping the country's greatest ever archery export Sara Lopez in a shootoff individually to become the youngest stage champion ever on the circuit.

2024 was the last time Arreola featured internationally outdoors at the Pan American Championships so there is intrigue in how the 'Hawaiian Hotshot' does in a much anticipated return. Still only 18, can she defy her lack of experience once again in Puebla and make more history in 2026?

Liko Arreola holds the 25-metre 60-arrow world record in compound under-18 women.