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Team USA tops medal table at 2026 Pan American Youth and Masters Championships

29 May 2026

Medellin, Colombia

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The USA made it three for three at the Pan American Youth and Masters Championships on Thursday, topping the medal table for the third consecutive edition of the event with 31 medals – 11 gold, nine silver and 11 bronze – across five days of competition at the Unidad Deportiva Andrés Escobar in Medellin, Colombia.

Leading the American charge was Mark Williams, who closed the championship with three gold medals and two world records pending ratification.

He won the recurve 50+ men’s individual title and teamed with Ali Gungoraydinoglu and Mark Hainline to claim recurve 50+ men’s team gold. The trio shot 1897 points over 216 arrows at 60 metres, a score that stands as a new world record in the category.

Williams also paired with Janis Grellner in the recurve 50+ mixed team event, where they shot 1239 over 144 arrows to surpass the previous world best of 1228 – set by Bruce Arnold and Tatyana Muntyan of the US Virgin Islands at the 2024 edition in El Salvador – on their way to gold.

“We always have such a great time coming to these tournaments,” Williams said. “It’s always good to win.”

Mexico finished one medal behind the USA with 30 overall – nine gold, 11 silver and 10 bronze – while host Colombia placed third with 22 medals, including seven gold, eight silver and seven bronze.

Mark Williams and Janis Grellner pose after setting a world record

Williams was one of several multiple gold medallists across the field. Mexico’s Osvaldo Ramirez won recurve under-21 men’s individual and team gold, compatriot Axel Rangel Morales took recurve under-18 men’s individual and mixed team gold, and Colombia’s Alejandro Gil Londoño claimed recurve under-15 men’s individual and mixed team gold.

One of the week’s most notable stories was Puerto Rico’s Maria Latorre, who won compound 50+ women’s individual gold before adding mixed team gold alongside partner Jaime Valentin.

What made the achievement even more striking was the path that brought her back to competition.

Latorre said she had retired from the sport and was attending the championships as a team delegate, supporting her son, Puerto Rican archer Jean Pizarro Latorre, and daughter-in-law, nine-time world champion Sara Lopez of Colombia.

It was that same family circle that persuaded her to compete again.

“They told me, ‘You can do this, you’re strong,’ so I came and did it,” Latorre said. “I really believed I could do it when I got here, and I gave it my all to make it happen.”

“I credit consistency, practise, perseverance, working really hard and wanting it with all my heart. My career isn’t over. I can keep going, and I’m truly giving it my all so I can bring more titles to my country.”

María LAtorre with Jean Pizarro and Sara López

Colombia’s Jeronimo Agudelo Bedoya was another standout, claiming compound under-18 men’s gold at just 14 years old. The young Colombian topped qualification with 699 and arrived in Medellin having recently won the South American Youth Games.

“This is a huge step toward the things I hope to accomplish in the future, like world championships and the Olympics,” Agudelo said. “Of course, I’d love to represent both myself as a person and Colombia.”

Canada’s Cole Cahill and Jiayi Yuan provided one of the feel-good stories of the championship, combining to win compound under-15 mixed team gold over Mexico.

Cahill, competing in his first international event, had topped the under-15 men’s qualification with 693, setting a new championship record at 40 metres in the process.

“I’m happy to get a medal in my first international competition,” Cahill said. “I practised as much as I could. I did drills to handle the heat and the stress of the team shoot, and I think that made a big difference.”

Yuan, meanwhile, took a more pragmatic approach.

“I’m missing a lot of school for this,” she said, “so I’m glad I’m not going home empty-handed.”

Julián Gómez and Michelle Cardona Champions

The championship concluded with Colombia’s Michelle Dayana Cardona Alvarez and Julián Gomez Zuluaga, who had each led their respective qualification rounds, combining to win compound under-21 mixed team gold.

Both had set championship records during qualification – Cardona with 698 and Gomez with 706 – and spoke of what the title meant after a week of competition in front of a home crowd.

“Winning that medal, it feels like all the sacrifices we made were worth it,” Cardona said. “It’s truly a very important step for both of us. It’s like we’ve proved to ourselves that we really can do it.”

“It’s a very important start, because we’ve shown that we can do it, that we can do it very well and that we have everything it takes to do it again,” Gomez added.

The 2026 Pan American Youth and Masters Championships drew a record 271 athletes from 16 nations, up from 139 competitors representing 10 countries at the inaugural standalone edition in Halifax, Canada, in 2022.