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 2022 and 2024 Hyundai Archery World Cup Finals, welcomes another major event next week as it stages the 2026 Pan American Championships, bringing together nations from North, Central and South America, as well as the Caribbean.

The championships date back more than 50 years, with Mexico hosting the inaugural edition in Acapulco in 1972.

Held every two years, the event expanded in 2021 to include field, youth and masters competitions. The most recent target championships took place in Medellin, Colombia, in 2024.

As well as being a major event in its own right, the championships serve as the main qualifier for the Lima 2027 Pan American Games, which in turn are the principal qualification event for the Americas on the road to the LA28 Olympic Games.

The championships also feature barebow competition, with Argentina, Uruguay and the USA represented this year.

Key information

What’s happening? The 22nd Pan American Archery Championships on 22-28 June 2026 at the Centro de Atletismo “Una Nueva Historia” in Tlaxcala, Mexico.

What’s at stake? Continental titles and quota places for the Lima 2027 Pan American Games.

Who’s competing? 181 archers from 19 countries.

What’s the story? Most nations will have their sights set on securing qualification for the Lima 2027 Pan American Games before turning their attention to continental titles. All but one of the defending champions return from Medellin 2024, alongside former winners including Alejandra Valencia, Sara Lopez, Ana Paula Vazquez, Marcus D’Almeida and Alejandra Usquiano.

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

Watch live footage of the finals on Saturday 27 June and Sunday 28 June with a subscription to archery+.

Live scores will be available on the World Archery website, with coverage across World Archery’s digital platforms throughout the competition.

Pan American Games qualifying

This event will award 54 quota places for the Lima 2027 Pan American Games: 18 in recurve and nine in compound for each gender.

The recurve quota places will be awarded during the team competition to the top five teams in each gender. The remaining three places will be decided in a dedicated individual qualification tournament for countries that have not already secured team places.

In compound, which will feature mixed team events at Lima 2027, quota places will first be awarded to the top four teams in each gender, followed by one additional individual place for nations that have not secured a team qualification.

As host nation, Peru has six guaranteed places in recurve – three women and three men – along with one men’s and one women’s place in compound.

Who’s competing?

These are the top-ranked archers competing in Tlaxcala:

• 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.