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James Lutz and Alexis Ruiz confirm their second finals team appearance at Shanghai 2026

07 mai 2026

Shanghai, China

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James Lutz and Alexis Ruiz smiling at their winning targets at Shanghai 2026.

James Lutz and Alexis Ruiz continued their hot streaks in Shanghai 2026 - stage two of the 2026 World Cup - as the pair booked themselves into the compound mixed team gold medal match.

The Americans pipped the Jaatma siblings - Lisell and Robin - of Estonia to the stage 158-157 in the Yuanshen Sports Centre, which had significantly cooled down in the afternoon from the morning session, with the wind returning to its unpredictable ways as well.

Ruiz is having a sterling week in particular, having secured her first-ever top-seed qualification spot at a World Cup on Tuesday's 72-arrow round, and Lutz — fresh off his record-breaking 719 at the 2026 Easton Foundations Gator Cup a couple weeks ago — has now reached two finals on his Shanghai debut [compound men team and mixed] as has his teammate [compound women team and mixed].

“Me and Alexis have been number one in the States for like five years and we've never shot together,” said Lutz, who could still make it three out of three finals should he come through tomorrow's individual eliminations. “It's been really pleasant to shoot in here. I've never shot in China, and I knew the wind in the stadium here could be a little tricky.”

“It was just basically learning that. I'm feeling good going into the matches.”

In a contest that had only one point in it, the semifinal was one of fine margins, with the Jaatmas - guided by their mother and head coach Maarika - but luckily for USA, they had their very best compound exports on the shooting line.

Lutz and Ruiz have been the top archers in their respective genders out of USA for the last five years yet bemusedly, have never won an international medal together as a duo.

The only time Tlaxcala 2024 World Cup champion Lutz has in fact medalled in mixed team was at Medellin 2022 [silver] with Linda Ochoa-Anderson and then alongside Paige Pearce at the Santiago 2022 Pan American Championships [bronze].

James Lutz shooting against Lisell Jaatma during the compound mixed team semifinal at Shanghai 2026.

Ruiz, on the other hand, has World Championship [Berlin 2023] and Pan American [2024] mixed team golds to her name, as well as the 2019 World Cup Final top podium in the event back when the discipline was competed at the circuit finale.

This year's Vegas Shoot runner-up was the star once again, not dropping a single arrow into the nine and shooting just three 10s across all three matches.

Lutz was quick to acknowledge it.

“You know, I knew coming into it that she's going to have my back and I'm going to have hers, and she definitely had my back today, so it was good,” added Lutz, who is shooting for the first time in Shanghai despite competing on the World Cup circuit for the past seven years. “I just didn't really know what to expect with the wind. I would say easier [than expected]. I find myself overthinking the wind when I don't need to.”

“Really, I think all week if I just put the pin in the middle every time it's going to hit there. When I try aiming for the wind, that's when I've been missing.”

Both archers will be intertwined in a much larger compound head-to-head on compound Saturday against Türkiye.

Hazal Burun and Emircan Haney will also feature in the men’s and women’s team finals, meaning the morning’s finals will see a USA versus Türkiye triple-header for gold.

Competition concludes at the Yuanshen Sports Centre tomorrow with both compound and recurve individual eliminations in the morning.