Andrea Becerra makes history for Mexico -

Andrea Becerra fulfilled her tournament favourite tag on Tuesday, winning compound women’s gold to become Mexico’s first-ever World Archery Champion at the World Archery Championships in Gwangju.

The 25-year-old archer banished any Berlin blues – where she had been runner-up – and stayed in the lead from the first end to fifth against Sofia Paiz. The silver medal is El Salvador’s first individual medal in the event’s history, with Becerra edging her 147-146.

The only wobble came on the final end when Becerra dropped two high nines. But through educated guesswork with her sight in the torrential rain – a recurring challenge in Gwangju – she landed her last arrow in the 10-ring, avoiding a shoot-off.

It wasn’t a perfect 10X, right in the centre of the target, but it didn’t need to be.

“I struggled at the last end and I could hardly see anything, so I was just wishing for the best, praying to God or whoever would answer, just to give me a good arrow – and it worked out in the end,” said the world number one through tears of joy on the podium.

“It was completely on my lens, I couldn’t see anything, but I was just hoping for the best. There was a quick moment when I thought maybe I couldn’t shoot anymore, but trying is better than nothing.”

“I think it will start to sink later when I get to look at my phone and see my family’s texting, but I’m really, really happy.”

The Becerra-Paiz final at 5.18 Democracy Square was a far cry from Becerra’s gold medal match against Aditi Gopichand Swami in Berlin 2023.

The Mexican archer has always been a cheerful, smiley character off the shooting line, but timid and quiet too – a combination that led to painful near-misses, particularly last year.

A 2019 Summer Universiade gold medallist, she also had the frustrating label of “compound women nearly-archer,” earning silver at the Pan American Games that same year, then bronze at Yankton 2021 World Archery Championships and two Archery World Cup silvers in 2024 (Yecheon and Shanghai), on top of the Berlin runner-up finish.

Her quality was never in doubt, only her mental mettle in crunch situations.

After so many stage final runs, it all came together in the World Cup opener at Central Florida earlier this year, where she finally won a final in a shoot-off.

That breakthrough turned Becerra into a mean, green, winning machine

In the past five months, she has knocked Great Britain’s Ella Gibson off the number one spot, become the only woman to win two World Cups in 2025 (in Florida and Antalya), grabbed gold at the Chengdu 2025 World Games – and now the biggest individual prize in her discipline.

“I really wanted it,” she added when asked about what has changed since her last world championship outing. “A bronze in Yankton, a silver in Berlin. It was a lot of mental but hard work.”

There is no question: Andrea Becerra is the archer to beat in compound women. Should she win again at the Nanjing 2025 Archery World Cup Final next month, it would cap one of the greatest outdoor seasons we have ever seen.

For the next two years at least, she can call herself the reigning World Archery Champion, with compound action now officially over at 5.18 Democracy Square.

For the bronze medal, Alejandra Usquiano of Colombia edged out Parneet Kaur of India in a tight contest, winning 145-144.