Puebla 2026: Mexico denied home team finals

Mexico were denied home finals in both compound men and women team event semis but responded by winning their respective bronze medal matches at Puebla on Wednesday - the first stage of the 2026 World Cup.

The host nation seeded second in the women category with Andrea Becerra, Dafne Quintero and Ana Sofía Hernández dropping 2072 altogether from 216 arrows and are currently the number one ranked team in the world although the latter did not feature in their World Cup or Gwangju 2025 World Championship gold medal performances last year.

It meant they had a bye in the first round and went straight to the quarterfinal where they convincingly beat El Salvador 235-229 in another sunlit session.

The USA trio of Paige Pearce, Alexis Ruiz and Olivia Dean stopped the favourites in their tracks however 230-229 with the torubling wind causimg more problems for the Mexicans than their American counterparts, much to the disappointment oif a supportive full crowd at Parque del Arte. 

First shooter Quintero though was still upbeat that her team didn't leave Puebla medalless.

“We shot together in 2023, but it's a new team,” said the Tlaxcala 2024 World Cup Final bronze medallist who helped her team beat Türkiye 233-230 for the bronze, dropping seven 10s. “We feel good, a little bit windy, but we have a lot of communication.”

“Of course we want to go to the final match, but this bronze medal is good because it's the first World Cup.”

It'll feel particularly rough for Quintero and Becerra with the former averaging the same as Dean - the USA's top performer in the match at 9.75 - whilst the latter and reigning World champion Becerra topped the arrow charts with an impressive average of 9.88 and seven 10s.

The 23 year old Hernandez though could only land one of her eight arrows in the 10-ring.

Pearce, who claimed she had just “survived” at yesterday's qualification coming in 16th, was buzzing.

The Lac La Biche 2024 World Field champion cannot compete at as many international events as she once used to due to it conflicting with her regular national schedule.

Puebla is only her second World Cup in five years and was particularly pleased in the way she bounced back from the 72-arrow round, citing a change in her hinge as an instigator for success.

“Right before we started, I actually took the click out of my hinge,” revealed Pearce. “I've never shot a hinge like that before, but I just thought it might make me a little more aggressive with my shot and it did and it definitely paid off.”

“I think we just worked really well together as a team. If someone was struggling, like the other girls did good at picking the other one up and so I think it was really just the team energy that kept us going.”

Pearce, Dean and Ruiz will face off against India on Saturday whilst in the men Colombia reached their first compound men team stage appearance by nudging Denmark via shoot-off.

Mexico's men team came up short against Türkiye but then ended the session positively by beating an out of sorts Denmark 233-226 in the bronze match before going to over the stand to be serenaded by the swathes of home fans. 

Competition in Puebla continues this afternoon with recurve qualifying.

Finals: Puebla 2026

• Compound men team: Türkiye versus Colombia 
• Compound women team: India versus USA

Watch coverage from Puebla live with a subscription to archery+.