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Spain topples USA and Korea to reach home mixed team final

9 July 2026

Madrid, Spain

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Andres Temino Mediel and Elia Canales smiling at the target together at Madrid 2026.

Elia Canales and Andres Temiño Mediel rewarded the home crowd at Madrid 2026 – the fourth stage of the 2026 Hyundai Archery World Cup – with a superb run to the recurve mixed team gold medal match.

Roared on throughout the evening session at Vallehermoso Stadium, the reigning World Archery Championships mixed team gold medallists defeated Paris 2024 Olympic bronze medallists Casey Kaufhold and Brady Ellison 5-1, edged world number one Korea – represented by Kim Woojin and Oh Yejin – 5-3, and then beat Italy’s Matteo Borsani and Roberta Di Francesco by the same score in the semifinals.

“It’s been really noisy,” laughed a smiling Canales after making her way through a round of hugs from the entire Spanish contingent.

The 25-year-old said having her family and friends in the crowd had eased rather than increased the pressure.

“I really enjoyed the day, actually, so I didn’t feel much pressure to be at home. I was more focused on the joy of being here with my family. My parents are here, and my friends are here too, so I’m really, really happy about this.”

The pair had reached just one previous Hyundai Archery World Cup mixed team gold medal match before Madrid, losing to Korea in Shanghai in 2024.

Now they have another opportunity to claim gold, this time in front of a home crowd.

Canales said Spain had shot well in all three matches and believed they were at the same level as every other team in the field. In such a closely contested event, she felt the outcome often came down to the finest of margins.

She admitted the shifting wind had made conditions difficult, with gusts proving hard to judge throughout the evening, but said the key was to trust their instincts rather than overthink each shot.

“You can’t focus on what the wind is doing because then you’re not focusing on yourself, so we were like, ‘Okay, we’re going to aim off wherever we think is more or less right, and we’ll just go with it.’”

Andres Temino Mediel pumping his biceps after winning the recurve mixed team semifinal whilst Elia Canales hugs her coach at Madrid 2026.

Silver in Shanghai and bronze in Yecheon during 2024 had already established Canales and Temiño Mediel among the world’s leading mixed teams, but few expected them to defeat Korea on home soil at the Hyundai World Archery Championships in Gwangju last September.

Yet they did exactly that, securing Spain’s first-ever World Archery Championships gold medal. Temiño Mediel then carried that momentum into the individual competition, where he also claimed the recurve men’s world title.

Thursday’s performance showed that Gwangju was no fluke.

Kaufhold and Ellison have repeatedly shown they can deliver on the biggest stages, winning medals together at the Hyundai Archery World Cup, the Pan American Championships, the Pan American Games and the Olympic Games over recent years.

Canales and Temiño Mediel have been shooting together internationally for less than half that time, making victories over both the USA and Korea all the more impressive. They defeated the Americans 5-1 before edging Korea 39-38 in the deciding set of the quarterfinals – just one point shy of a perfect end.

Gwangju will always hold a special place in the history of Spanish archery, but after their first-round exit in Madrid last year, a home World Cup gold medal would provide another landmark moment.

That defeat still lingers in Temiño Mediel’s memory.

“What I remember from last year is that we shot quite well, but we lost by a very small margin. I think it was in the fourth set.”

“It annoyed me because, in the end, experiencing a final at home was something very special, but we didn’t manage it. This year we did,” said Temiño Mediel, who put six of his eight arrows against Italy into the 10-ring.

Canales returns to action in the individual eliminations on Friday, beginning in the recurve women’s 1/16 round. Temiño Mediel exited in the 1/24 round.