Six days from now, thirty-two archers will step onto the line in Saltillo, Mexico, for the Hyundai Archery World Cup Final — the closing act of the circuit's twentieth anniversary season, and the moment the year's four qualifying stages resolve into four champions. Nobody arrives with more history on the line than Sara Lopez.

Saltillo 2026: Lopez against Becerra

The Colombian compound legend has already lifted the World Cup Final trophy nine times. Standing between her and a tenth is Andrea Becerra — the reigning champion, who also holds the current World title, and who gets to defend both on home soil this time. It's the kind of rematch the sport rarely gets to stage twice with this much riding on it.

"Will home advantage be enough to stop Sara Lopez lifting her tenth World Cup trophy?" — World Archery, event preview

Ellison's hunt for a seventh

In recurve men, Brady Ellison — the circuit's all-time leading gold medallist in the discipline — won last year's final in Nanjing for his sixth title. He returns to Saltillo ranked world number two, a rung he treats less as a ceiling than a grudge.

Eight athletes in each of the four categories — recurve and compound, men and women — will shoot for a purse that scales sharply at the top:

  • Champion — 30,000 CHF
  • Runner-up — 15,000 CHF
  • Third — 8,000 CHF
  • Fourth — 1,500 CHF

Per category, Saltillo 2026 Hyundai Archery World Cup Final — 12–13 September

On the calendar

Saltillo is the first of two major fixtures closing out the year. Two and a half weeks later, the sport splits into its outdoor variants:

  • 24 Sep – 4 Oct — World Archery Field & 3D Championships, Yankton: the NFAA Easton Yankton Archery Center in South Dakota hosts both disciplines back to back, drawing field specialists who shoot uneven, wooded terrain rather than a flat range.
  • 26 Sep – 3 Oct — Archery at the Asian Games, Okazaki: compound and recurve events run at Okazaki Central Park Multipurpose Square in Aichi Prefecture, Japan — a continental stage that doubles as an early look at 2028 form.

Off the line

The week's biggest number isn't a score. The USA Archery Foundation announced a $1.4 million donation from the Easton Sports Development Foundation, earmarked for the programs that seed the sport below the national-team level — coaching, club equipment, and grassroots access.

Equipment manufacturing had its own reshuffle: Bear Archery acquired both Gold Tip (arrows) and Bee Stinger (stabilizers), consolidating three well-known compound-hunting brands under one roof. Separately, Greg Easton was elected president of World Archery, taking over the sport's global governing body heading into an Olympic cycle.

A quieter story worth reading

Away from medal counts, South African para-archer Shaun Anderson spoke publicly this week about rebuilding his life through the sport after two life-changing accidents and a period of depression — a reminder that most of what archery gives people never shows up on a leaderboard.

Sources