Fullerton moves to the top, Grande and Becerra climb rankings after Merida wins
It wasn’t quite last-chance saloon, but with several big names absent, the Merida Indoor World Series 500 provided a prime opportunity for athletes further down the circuit rankings to reshuffle the standings ahead of next month’s finale at The Vegas Shoot.
Three home golds and one silver mean Mexico has at least one athlete in a strong position in all four categories.
The 1000 points available in Vegas leave the standings finely poised, with recurve men and compound women in particular extremely difficult to predict due to the tight margins at the top.
With the champions harder to call than ever, here’s who remains in contention for the 2026 Indoor World Series title following the action in Merida.
Recurve men
To keep it short, this is the most open category this season.
Andres Temiño Mediel leads the standings – and is the only recurve men’s archer on 1000 points – but he confirmed in Nimes that he won’t be heading to Nevada this year, which leaves second-placed Marcus D'Almeida in pole position.
However, the 2024 runner-up sits on just 625 points – the lowest total among the leading contenders – with fewer than 300 separating the Brazilian from Thomas Chirault in 10th (330), the leaderboard packed tightly between them.
Matias Grande firmly entered that competitive fray on Sunday when he beat USA’s Nicholas D’Amour in a shoot-off to become one of Mexico’s home heroes, climbing 14 places in the rankings. He now sits on 620 points and is breathing down D’Almeida’s neck.
Grande needed gold in Merida to put himself in the conversation, but with such small margins between totals, Vegas could reshape everything. Reigning Indoor World Series Champion Brady Ellison (340) and 2022 silver medallist Chirault are just two in-form athletes further down the table who have more than enough quality to travel to Vegas and win.
It promises to be one of the most compelling battles of the season.
| Recurve men’s leaders after Merida | In contention heading to Vegas |
|---|---|
| Andres Temiño Mediel, Spain – 1000 points* | Marcus D’Almeida, Brazil – 625 points Matias Grande, Mexico – 620 points Nicholas D’Amour, USA – 600 points Wei Chun-Heng, Chinese Taipei – 600 points |
Recurve women
Angela Ruiz is having her breakout moment in 2026.
She was part of Mexico’s recurve women’s team that won bronze at Paris 2024, where she had the pedigree and experience of Alejandra Valencia alongside her.
This indoor season, however, the 19-year-old has put together an impressive run of results, winning the Pan American Indoor Championships, taking silver in Nimes and now claiming gold in Merida – her first individual international victory outside the Americas.
Nimes and Taipei Open champion Victoria Sebastian looked well clear of the field in January, sitting on 1250 points – now 1375 after her quarterfinal exit in Mexico – but the full 500 points from Merida move Olympic medallist Ruiz significantly closer.
Her total jumps from 600 to 1100.
Sebastian and Ruiz are the only two athletes in the category to have broken the 1000-point mark and their recent form suggests the Indoor World Series title could come down to the pair in Vegas.
Rio Indoor 250 winner Ana Luiza Sliachticas Caetano and Czechia’s Marie Horackova – who scored 900 points at the Kings of Archery Series in November – are others capable of challenging next month.
| Recurve women’s leaders after Nimes | In contention heading to Vegas |
|---|---|
| Victoria Sebastian, France – 1375 points | Angela Ruiz, Mexico – 1100 points Ana Luiza Sliachticas Caetano, Brazil – 590 points Marie Horackova, Czechia – 550 points |
Compound men
The quality in compound has never been higher and, at present, even dropping a single nine in a match can be enough to decide an archer’s fate on the international circuit.
That level of perfection was required to beat Merida gold medallist Mathias Fullerton, with the Dane producing four straight 150s in his matches before the final showdown against Miguel Becerra. That was the only match in which Fullerton dipped below that extraordinary standard, shooting 148, but Becerra’s three nines ultimately proved too costly.
The result – Fullerton’s second gold of the 2026 Indoor World Series following Rio in December – sees him edge former compatriot – now representing USA – Stephan Hansen into first place in the standings. He is now one of three compound men to have surpassed 1000 points, alongside Hansen and Mike Schloesser, who has competed in all six stages this season and sits third on 1100.
Between them, the trio share five gold medals at previous editions of The Vegas Shoot and their strong positions in the standings give each a genuine opportunity to claim the Indoor World Series title.
Swiss Open champion Ajay Scott is enjoying his strongest indoor season to date and sits fourth (525), while last year’s World Series silver medallist and World Archery Champion Nicolas Girard is sixth.
Both would require a significant drop-off from Fullerton, Hansen and Schloesser in Vegas to enter the title conversation.
| Compound men’s leaders after Nimes | In contention heading to Vegas |
|---|---|
| Mathias Fullerton, Denmark – 1250 | Stephan Hansen, USA – 1150 Mike Schloesser, Netherlands – 1100 Ajay Scott, Great Britain – 525 |
Compound women
Like Grande, world number one Andrea Becerra needed home heroics in Merida to move firmly into the compound women’s title race – and she delivered, beating Alexis Ruiz 148–147 in Sunday’s gold medal match.
An even stronger indicator of her form came in the semifinals, where she edged former world number one Ella Gibson in a shoot-off after both shot 149.
Becerra – last year’s World Games and Hyundai World Archery Championships gold medallist – now leads that head-to-head 3-2 across all competitions, but third-placed Amanda Mlinaric (925) and leader Alejandra Usquiano (1125) will stand in her way as she looks to secure her maiden Indoor World Series title in Vegas.
GT Open winner Gibson moved up from third to second in the standings after her semifinal finish earned 250 points, overtaking Mlinaric.
She joins Usquiano in the 1000-point club but, like Becerra, has never won the international indoor circuit in person – Gibson triumphed in the pandemic-affected online edition in 2021 – nor claimed The Vegas Shoot title.
All of the aforementioned athletes have at least two gold medals at stages this season and, in a sport built as much on consistency as brilliance, the points race between these four will be decisive in March.
| Compound women’s leaders after Merida | In contention heading to Vegas |
|---|---|
| Alejandra Usquiano, Colombia – 1250 points | Ella Gibson, Great Britain – 1000 points Amanda Mlinaric, Croatia – 925 points Andrea Becerra, Mexico – 670 points |
Indoor Series: Standings after Nimes
