Alejandra Valencia: still surviving and thriving at the very top

If there‘s one thing Alejandra Valencia Trujillo is known for, it's surviving.

Her career has had more than its share of fourth place finishes and almost-there moments, and her ability to refocus and bounce back has kept her at the top.

A full 17 years after her international debut, she is ranked sixth in the world and is still delivering at the very highest level, and the place she has absolutely made her own is the two major continental competitions: the Pan American Championships and the multi-sport Pan American Games.

She has won individual gold at the latter no less than three times, in 2011, 2019 and 2023, along with six other team medals over the years. 

In June, Mexico’s recurve mixed team victory at this year’s Tlaxcala 2026 Pan American Championships – won with Matias Grande – marked Valencia’s seventh Pan American Championships gold and the 13th medal in total of her career, having first reached the podium 16 years ago in Guadalajara.

She took individual Pan Am gold that year, and took the title again six years later in Medellin. The archer she beat in Medellin – the USA's Mackenzie Brown – would get her revenge three years later at Tokyo 2020, knocking out Valencia in the quarterfinals after a shoot-off measured in millimetres.

But Valencia had days earlier already taken one of the biggest highlights of her career – an Olympic bronze medal in the mixed team event with Luis Alvarez. 

Mexico is not a big Olympic nation, and medals are a big deal. When their plane home from Tokyo touched down in Mexico City, the airport firefighting team gave it a water cannon salute. 

We caught up with Alejandra after the recent Pan Ams in Tlaxcala – the other end of the country from Valencia’s hometown of Hermosillo, after her spectacular seventh medal. 

What does it mean to take another gold here? "Of course there’s the emotion because we were the hosts, it was right here, and hearing everyone shouting, getting excited, and singing the national anthem—that was really emotional,” she said. 

“Plus, there is the work we’ve been doing together, and it’s a great motivator because those of us who were in this final are surely the ones who will be at the Pan American Games as well. So, it's a good way to start the upcoming cycle.”

(The next Pan Am Games will be held in Lima, Chile in July 2027, and are the main Americas qualifier for the LA28 Olympic Games.)

Many of Valencia’s successes in recent years have been in the mixed team format. “The thrill, the nerves, knowing that you have to be very attentive and very focused because there are only two arrows [per pair], and it's the best man with the best woman,” she said. 

“We all shoot well, so you have to be completely focused at all times to give your best, while knowing that the other country is going to do exactly the same. It’s a slightly more intense tension, but it’s enjoyable if you know how to enjoy it!’

Valencia now has the longest top-level recurve career of any archer in the peleton bar Brady Ellison, and she calmly batted away questions about retirement from the press pack at Paris 2024, after she won her second bronze anchoring the Mexican team – chosen by World Archery as one of the highlights of the Games.

(We should also remember that Valencia made the individual last eight in Paris and was only stopped by Lim Sihyeon, taking four points off the eventual Olympic champion.)

”What do I think now? [about retirement]. Well, I think the same as I did then. Will I try to make it to Los Angeles? Of course! If not, I wouldn’t be here.Yes, the idea is exactly that: to reach the Games and not just reach them, but to win the individual medal, which is the one I'm missing. And, on the way, add the team and mixed team medals to that as well. But yes, the idea is to keep going until the LA Games because, well, it’s just around the corner.”

“After that? We’ll see. You'll see, because I always live toward the goal I set for myself, and the goal is Los Angeles. Once that goal is met, well, we'll see what the next one is.”

In many archery nations – notably Korea – the eldest and most experience members of the team are expected to set a leadership example. Do you feel that is part of what you are doing now? “My contribution is just making sure [the younger members of the team] know I’m always there whenever they need me, for advice or whatever it may be.”

“I also try not to impose myself by giving advice that isn't asked for. I just offer the experience I have whenever possible. More than anything, it's that, and a shoulder to cry on if someone needs it at any given moment, but that’s about it,” she smiled. 

What's been the biggest change over the years? 

“I’ve made many changes throughout my life because I really like to adapt what I’m learning to what works for me. Just this past year I was with my coach Marc working on a new technique, just very small details that I didn’t do before that I do now. Up to this point, I feel the technique is more ‘mine’.”

“So, I couldn't compare the Alejandra from 15 years ago, because I can't even compare her to the Alejandra of a month ago, because I’m always trying to improve what I did previously! What I can say is that I am obviously a person with much more experience, more control of my body, more control of my mind, and also situational control. So yes, I feel that is where I’ve grown.”

As she prepares to return to the World Cup circuit in Madrid – she has won 26 medals on the circuit over the years – the inevitable question is: what’s left? 

“Well, I still have many things to do. One of them is to win an individual medal at the Olympic Games. But I am working for that; we are preparing for that.” 

“And as for a legacy, I would like to... help the sport continue to grow, because one thing is the history I am already leaving behind – which we are already writing and which will always be there – but it's also about seeing how I can continue to support this sport.”

“So that all the work we did doesn't just stop there. So that it keeps growing.”