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Spain triumphs in mixed team against Korea to claim historic world title

10 September 2025

Gwangju, Korea

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Elia Canales and Andres Temino Mediel made history for Spain at Gwangju 2025.

Spain claimed their first World Archery Championships gold in the recurve mixed team final on a hot Wednesday afternoon, much to the disappointment of hometown hero An San, at Gwangju 2025.

Elia Canales and Andres Temiño Mediel looked far more comfortable on the stage at 5.18 Democracy Square than their Korean counterparts. The Spaniards dropped just two eights across the match, while An San and Kim Woojin cost themselves three eights and a wide seven, finishing with a 6-2 score line.

“I’m really proud of our team, myself, my country, everything, and I’m really happy,” said 2024 European Championships silver medallist Canales, emotional during the medal ceremony. “I have no words for today. I’ve been thinking about this moment a lot, and it finally became real, so I’m just going to enjoy it.”

“We’ve been there a lot of times in World Cups, and [this] is another similar competition. If it wasn’t this time, maybe it would be another. We just trust ourselves and in every competition, we give our 100 per cent and that’s it.”

Beyond the upset, Spain’s victory against two Olympic Champions – An San in Tokyo 2020 and Kim Woojin in Paris 2024 – symbolises the arrival of another European country to the world medal table. Historically, Spanish recurvers have competed at Olympic Games and World Championships, with names like Antonio Vázquez Mejido, Carlos Holguín and Olimpia Alemán in the 1980s and 1990s. Yet major honours proved elusive.

A breakthrough came in 2015 when Miguel Alvarino Garcia won the Hyundai Archery World Cup Final and European Games, setting the stage for today’s generation. Pablo Acha succeeded at the 2021 European Championships, and Alvarino Garcia retained the same title in 2022.

Temiño Mediel, the second seed of the individual event, has also shot alongside Alvarino in the past, winning the mixed team event at the 2023 European Games. Today, partnering Canales, he surpassed that achievement, etching his name into history alongside his teammate.

“I’m really proud of it because this season I didn’t shoot a 670 in any competition, so achieving it in a World Championship is even better,” Canales said, referring to her individual qualification round where she equalled her personal best of 673.

An San shooting with Korean fans in background.

Spain’s triumph came at the cost of the home nation. Korea began the recurve week undefeated, breaking the mixed team 144-arrow record with An San and Kim Woojin (1393 points). Yet in the final, An San failed to land a single arrow in the 10-ring, adding a wide seven that touched the six line.

The 2022 Hyundai Archery World Cup Final Champion was in a pleasant mood after the women’s team medal ceremony – which Korea captured bronze in – but inside she will have been reeling from an unideal strategy in her campaign at 5.18 Democracy Square.

The Korean collapse in the mixed team final was largely down to her, as she failed to land a single arrow in the 10-ring and added an extremely wide-right seven, touching the six line.

“It’s true that it was really hard because the match ended late and I didn’t have a lot of time to recover,” the 24-year-old explained when discussing the difference between her performance in the mixed team gold final and the women’s team bronze.

“I feel really sorry and grateful to Woojin, but I think I loosened up a bit after the mixed team event, so I was able to perform better during the team event.”

“It’s a bit disappointing, but it’s still very meaningful to be standing on the podium, and I’m grateful that we were able to show our fans what Korean archery really is.”

An San may not have struck gold today, but she was still clearly the star for much of the watching public in Gwangju, with swathes of fans leaving their seats after she, Lim Sihyeon and Kang Chaeyoung completed their 5-3 dispatch of India.

Fans flocked to their local hero outside the venue for autographs and photos, where a paper cut-out of her had been displayed. If she didn’t already need motivation for tomorrow’s women’s individual rounds – which begin at the Gwangju Archery International Centre – she certainly has it now, inspired by the crowd’s support.

There was also reason to cheer for other home athletes: Kim Woojin, Kim Je Deok and Lee Woo Seok swept aside the USA in straight sets, despite Woo Seok damaging his finger tab midway through the match.

Meanwhile, the youthful trio of Li Cai Xuan, Hsu Hsin-tzu and Chiu Yi-Ching secured Chinese Taipei’s second recurve women’s team gold medal in World Archery Championships history.

The recurve men’s individual finals take place tomorrow afternoon and can be watched live with a subscription to archery+.