Preview: Tlaxcala hosts Pan American Championships with qualification places up for grabs
The Mexican city of Tlaxcala, best known in the archery world for hosting the 2024 Hyundai Archery World Cup Final, plays host to another major tournament next week with the Tlaxcala 2026 Pan American Championships, gathering nations from North, Central and South America and the Caribbean.
The Championships have a history stretching back more than 50 years, and indeed Mexico hosted the first ever competition in 1972, in Acapulco.
A biannual event, since 2021 it has expanded with field, youth & masters events, with the last target edition, the 2024 Pan American Championships, held in Medellin, Colombia.
As well as a major in its own right, the competition is the main qualifier for next year’s Lima 2027 Pan American Games, in turn the major Americas qualifier for the LA28 Olympic Games..
It also features a barebow competition, this time out with just three countries competing: Argentina, Uruguay and the USA.
Key information
What’s happening? The 22nd edition of the Pan American Archery Championships on 22-28 June 2026 at the Centro de Atletismo “Una Nueva Historia” stadium in Tlaxcala, Mexico.
What’s at stake? Continental titles and quota places for the 2027 Pan Am Games.
Who’s competing? 181 archers from 19 countries.
What’s the story? Most nations will be focusing on securing qualifying for Lima next year, after that the Pan Ams are a major gong in their own right. Most defending champions from 2024 are returning along with multiple former winners including Alejandra Valencia, Sara Lopez, Ana Paula Vazquez, Marcus D’Almeida and Alejandra Usquiano all returning to try and grab another title.
Event schedule
- Wednesday 24 June: Qualifications and team finals
- Thursday 25 June: Mixed team eliminations and Pan Am Games individual qualifier
- Friday 26 June: Individual eliminations
- Saturday 27 June: Mixed team and barebow finals
- Sunday 28 June: Compound and recurve individual finals
Defending champions
See full results from the Medellin 2024 Pan American Championships.
- Recurve men: Matias Grande, Mexico
- Recurve women: Casey Kaufhold, USA
- Compound men: Sebastian Garcia Flores, Mexico
- Compound women: Alexis Ruiz, USA
- Barebow men: Raymond Huang, Canada (not competing)
- Barebow women: Johana Cindy Czako, USA
How to watch
Live scores will be available on the World Archery website, and there will be coverage on World Archery America’s digital platforms throughout the competition.
More details about coverage of the finals to follow.
Pan Am Games qualifying
This event will award 54 places for the Lima 2027 Pan American Games: 18 in recurve and 9 in compound for each gender.
The slots for recurve will be awarded during the team competition to the top five teams in each gender. The remaining three spots will be awarded in a special individual round for countries that have not yet secured team spots.
Lima 2027 will feature mixed team events for compound archery. For compound, the first slots will be awarded to the top four teams and one individual spot in a separate round for nations that did not secure team places.
Peru, as the host country, has six spots by right in recurve (three women and three men) and one men's and one women's place in compound.
Who’s competing?
These are the top-ranked archers competing in Santiago:
- Recurve men: Marcus D’Almeida, Brazil (world rank: 1)
- Recurve women: Casey Kaufhold, USA (world rank: 3)
- Compound men: Sebastian Garcia Flores, Mexico (world rank: 4)
- Compound women: Alejandra Usquiano, Colombia (world rank: 4)
A total of 181 archers (105 men, 76 women) from the national teams of the following 19 countries are registered to compete at these championships: Argentina, Bermuda, Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Cuba, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico, Panama, Peru, Puerto Rico, Trinidad and Tobago, Uruguay, USA, and Venezuela.
