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Sara Lopez emotionally books 11th World Cup Final at Puebla 2026

11 April 2026

Puebla, Mexico

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Sara Lopez with a mini fist bump after winning a match in the compound women final fours at Puebla 2026.

It was a triumphant return to the World Cup shooting line for Sara Lopez as she put in two more outstanding performances to win the compound women gold at Puebla 2026 - the first stage of the 2026 Hyundai World Cup.

The 30 year old compounder's first match of the day against Dafne Quintero was worthy of the gold medal itself as the Mexican had more than just a home advantage at Zocalo de Puebla, with every one of her arrows cheered loudly by local fans.

They couldn't separate each other in the usual five ends, tying at an extraordinary 149-149 scoreline but Quintero never found the X in those 15 arrows and she failed to do so again in the shoot-off, staying 29.8 millimetres from the X spot whilst Lopez's last arrow landed in the spider.

The gold medal match? She repeated 149 again - one 10 off a perfect 150 - but needn't go for a second sudden death as opponent Lisell Jaatma dropped 148, the Estonian collecting her maiden individual World Cup stage medal in the process.

“The emotion I felt was the same emotion I felt when I won my first World Cup back in [Antalya] 2013 but the scores were amazing,” said Lopez who covered her mouth and shed tears after completing her eighth flawless end of the day. “I'm going to keep that in my mind, knowing that I had a harder way to go into the finals because I had three shoot-offs to be able to shoot for the gold [two prior in midweek eliminations].”

“I feel really emotional because after a year coming back, winning for the first time, it means a lot. I'm really happy for that.”

“I feel like that 18-year-old girl who won her first World Cup.”

Lopez exceeding her rivals on the stops of archery's premier international circuit is almost as expected as the church bells ringing at the Catedral de Puebla on a Sunday.

Sara Lopez aiming in the compound women gold medal match at Puebla 2026.

This most recent result is the Colombian's 11th top podium at a stage, not to mention her nine Final victories - the most of any archer in any category.

The Yankton 2021 World champion looks like she is never tired however of any of her wins and really does live in the moment... but you could tell this one without doubt meant more than most.

Every archer's aim is to strive for perfection in every arrow, even if it is not possible, but Lopez's drive seems to have an added intent than most which has brought her exactly to this point as compound women's greatest.

She seeded third in qualifications with 696 this week which, for a 12 month layoff from World Cup action, is an achievement in itself but even with an easy excuse like this at hand to not get pole, it wasn't anything but that for Lopez.

A classic example of her elite mindset.

“I was really devastated with the score, to be honest. The score was horrible but then I saw I got third, I thought, ‘Okay, even in my worst, I'm still in the top five.’”

“I didn't have the chance to shoot the mixed team so I prepared myself in the practice field for the finals. I knew I had really strong opponents in the way, but I just kept trusting myself, trusting the process and trusting my experience.”

When questioned whether she feels she can finally put World Cup number 10 in her trophy cabinet this year in Saltillo - the location for the 2026 circuit finale - Lopez simply smiled and said:

“I know I'm going to get it for sure. I don't know when. It's just a matter of time.”

Competition in Puebla concludes with recurve finals on Sunday.