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Sanne de Laat's eight gives Denmark gold in compound mixed team at Puebla 2026

11 April 2026

Puebla, Mexico

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Tanja Gellenthien and Mathias Fullerton high-fiving after winning gold at Puebla 2026.

The Netherlands were left kicking themselves as they bottled the lead for Denmark to run away with the compound mixed team gold at Puebla 2026 - the first stage of the 2026 World Cup.

Up until the final end of four, Sanne de Laat and Mike Schloesser were ahead on the scoreboard at 118-117, which included two perfect ends from both archers whilst Mathias Fullerton and Tanja Gellenthien dropped 39 consecutively.

In the shadow of Puebla's historic St. Dominic Temple though, de Laat cruelly fluffed her lines at the last hurdle after such an excellent performance before that point, landing her seventh arrow in the eight ring.

Against a combined team of two former World Cup champions in Fullerton and Gellenthien, any arrow in the red was always going to be costly and so it proved as the Krakow-Malopolska 2023 European Games silver medallists ended the match with a 40.

“All the other shots felt really good like the overall feeling was better than the last finals [at Madrid 2025],” said the gutted de Laat when asked how frustrated she was. “It's just that one moment that sucks. I was kind of pulling it and nothing was happening and then one second out the draw came a little bit, it the release aid went off and then it just went high.”

“We'll definitely try to get some gold there [at Shanghai - the next stage].”

One archer's loss was another two's gain at Zocalo de Puebla on Sunday though as Fullerton and Gellenthien really did clutch victory from the jaws of defeat.

The manner in which the Danish duo won their seventh international outdoors mixed team event won't bother them here in Mexico nor in the upcoming LA28 Games where compound makes its Olympic debut.

Tanja Gellenthien just after release in the compound mixed team gold medal match at Puebla 2026.

As well as acting as a positive rehearsal for Los Angeles, the win also offers some respite personally for the 2025 Indoor World Series Finals champion Gellenthien, who went out early in the round of 16 earlier this week after seeding high in qualifications at fifth.

Individually she shot fantastic amidst the dry Mexican heat and wind, shooting only one arrow outside the 10 ring and getting three Xs in her last four shots.

Her form matters more than ever and unlike in previous years, US-based Gellenthien is hoping to travel with Fullerton and the Denmark cohort to World Cups as they build to repeat Saturday morning's success in two years time.

“There'll be some longer trips to Denmark than there were in the past for sure. We're looking into it. I'm going to the Madrid one and then maybe going to Denmark the week before and the week after because then I'll already be acclimated to the time zone.”

“The trip will be a lot shorter and there's going to be a lot of those trips in my future.”

As Gellenthien and Fullerton returned to winning ways, so did former world number ones India in the compound women gold medal match against fellow giants USA 233-232 after not winning any World Cup golds in 2025.

In a twist, former world number one nation in the category Madhura Dhamangaonkar, Pragati and Jyothi Surekha Vennam were well supported throughout the match by Mexican fans in attendance and in their mixed team bronze encounter - which they lost to USA in another tight contest 155-154 - despite their countries being separated by over 14000 miles apart.

Competition in Puebla is currently ongoing with compound individual finals in the afternoon.