Reigning champions return to recapture Pan Am magic in Tlaxcala
At the 2024 Pan American Championships in Medellin, the event crowned four new individual champions – a competition that has a habit of rewarding persistence.
All four return in Tlaxcala 2026 to defend their titles.
As they prepare to compete once again at one of the most prestigious archery tournaments in the Americas, we take a closer look at these reigning champions – the oldest just 26 – and track their competitive journeys over the past two years.
It’s quite the story.
Recurve men: Matias Grande
Grande has spent the past two years solidifying his position as one of the world’s top recurve archers, living up to the hype that surrounded him shortly before Paris 2024.
The then 20-year-old from Guanajuato went from underdog host-nation invite at the Hyundai Archery World Cup Final to Pan American Games silver medallist and reigning Pan American champion.
He reached the last 16 in the Olympic individual event and the quarterfinals of the mixed team competition alongside Alejandra Valencia. Later in 2024, Grande earned a nomination for the World Archery Breakthrough Archer of the Year award.
He carried that momentum into 2025, winning his first Hyundai Archery World Cup gold medal in Madrid by defeating France’s Baptiste Addis, before adding silver in Shanghai. His form continued into 2026 with victory at the Merida Indoor World Series before another final-four appearance at stage one of the Hyundai Archery World Cup in Puebla lifted him to world number three.
It is hard to look beyond Grande on home soil. Defending a continental title is never straightforward, but few arrive in better form.
Recurve women: Casey Kaufhold
Kaufhold has continued to excel since her Pan American triumph in 2024, where she won both individual and team gold alongside Jennifer Mucino and Catalina Gnoriega before the trio headed to Paris.
At the Olympic Games she secured mixed team bronze with Brady Ellison, a journey she reflected on in depth with World Archery earlier this year.
Her 2025 Hyundai Archery World Cup season featured multiple final-four appearances, while she also anchored the USA women’s team to a historic World Cup gold medal in Antalya, ending a run of 20 consecutive defeats to Korea. She followed that with another impressive indoor season, winning The Vegas Shoot outright.
Now ranked world number three – and the highest-ranked woman competing in Tlaxcala – it is remarkable that Kaufhold is still only 22, yet already displaying increasing maturity as she builds towards LA28.
She starts as the favourite, and another medal would surprise very few.
Compound men: Sebastian Garcia
Following his individual victory at the 2024 Pan American Championships, Garcia enjoyed a breakthrough 2025 Hyundai Archery World Cup season.
At stage one in Central Florida, he topped qualification ahead of the world’s elite before claiming his first individual World Cup medal with silver.
He went one better at stage two in Shanghai, winning his maiden World Cup gold after prevailing in a high-pressure shoot-off. That was followed by silver at the 2025 World Games in Chengdu and bronze at the 2025 Hyundai World Archery Championships in Gwangju.
In 2026, Garcia achieved something extraordinary during Mexico’s national selection trials, shooting 719 out of a possible 720 in the 50-metre ranking round – one point better than the existing world-record mark. Although the score could not be ratified because the event was not registered on the international calendar, it further cemented his growing reputation.
Now ranked world number four behind Nicolas Girard, Mike Schloesser and Mathias Fullerton, Garcia arrives in Tlaxcala as one of the favourites to retain his continental crown.
Compound women: Alexis Ruiz
At the 2024 Pan American Championships, the Arizona native completed a remarkable triple-gold haul, remaining unbeaten throughout the tournament to win the compound women’s individual, women’s team and mixed team titles.
Her performances also secured the USA its first official qualification place for the 2025 World Games.
Ruiz returned to the world podium in 2025 with team silver at the Hyundai World Archery Championships in Gwangju before qualifying for the Hyundai Archery World Cup Final in Nanjing.
In 2026 she claimed her first top qualification seed at stage two in Shanghai, shot a perfect 150 in the quarterfinals and left with three medals – individual bronze, women’s team silver and mixed team gold alongside James Lutz.
Ruiz has worked tirelessly on the international circuit since winning individual gold at the 2017 World Archery Youth Championships in Rosario, and now appears closer than ever to establishing herself among the very best.
Unlike the other defending champions, she arrives in Tlaxcala without being the top-ranked athlete in her category – Andrea Becerra and Alejandra Usquiano both sit above her – but few would be surprised if she lifted the trophy once again.
