Ruiz goes through emotional rollercoaster to clinch World Cup -

Alexis Ruiz went from the joys of sadness to sheer joy in Saltillo as she beat host nation favourite Dafne Quintero to win the compound women’s Archery World Cup Final.

The American defeated the two-time World Cup Final bronze medallist 145-144, which was an achievement in itself considering how packed the stands at Plaza de Armas were, not just with compatriots to Quintero but fellow people from her home state of Coahuila.

Ruiz’s journey to being the first compound women’s circuit champion from the USA since Jamie Van Natta at Tokyo 2012 though, was wobbled right at the beginning in her quarterfinal against Lisell Jaatma.

The pair went to a shoot-off at 143 and although both hit high nines close to the 10-ring, it looked as if Ruiz had got the better of the sudden death.

This year’s Pan American double gold medallist seemed confident herself that she’d get the nod but the line judge, although said she had won, accidentally raised her right arm pointing towards Jaatma’s target.

“It’s been such a roller coaster of emotions today,” said a teary-eyed Ruiz, whose loss was swiftly reverted to a win after the first match. “From thinking I lost my first match to all of a sudden being in the gold medal match. That match was so close between me and Dafne, it literally came down to the last arrow. I can’t even describe the joy I’m feeling right now.”

“I honestly hardly remember that match against Sara [Lopez]. My emotions were just all over the place. It was so hard to settle down after the loss and then thinking ‘Oh my gosh, I’m back to shooting again.’”

“I was just trying to keep my emotions in check long enough to shoot my bow.”

The match against Sara was also unusual in that the nine-time champion of the circuit – all eyes were peeled on her coming into Saltillo whether she could notch trophy number 10 – missed an arrow in the fourth end.

Sara later made up for it though by beating Great Britain’s Ella Gibson in the bronze medal match.

For Ruiz, however, to shoot in such strange circumstances and then having to go into the cauldron against a Mexican in Mexico proved as much as anything that she is made of strong stuff.

The 27-year-old athlete also mentioned how physically she was not healed from a dramatic accident she suffered just weeks ago.

“I don’t know how many people know, but I was in a car accident a month ago, so I’m not fully healed. So I knew I had that challenge going into today and then just all the mental stuff I had to go through.”

“I think I realized a new capability of who I am and what I can handle.”

Ruiz has for the past couple of years been the top-ranked compound women’s archer of USA, which is no easy feat considering the depth of talent there is in the country, but now, after everything that happened this afternoon, Plaza de Armas is the place she announced her mettle as a competitor to herself and the watching world.

The Jaatma match was tough on its own but she pulled through that, beat the greatest of all time and then the popular Quintero, which many could not.

The Wieners take over Saltillo with Nico first ever Austrian World Cup champion

Nico Wiener’s extroverted jubilance was rewarded as he won the compound men trophy to become Austria’s first-ever champion of the event.

Wiener was by far the most eye-catching archer in the morning session at Plaza de Armas as he punched in the air after every 10 and bellowed after every win against Nicolas Girard in the quarterfinals [149-148], Pablo Gomez Zuluaga in the semis [148-147] and then Mathias Fullerton in the gold medal match [148-147].

Most archers would only let their emotions out at the last arrow – which he did emphatically by screaming to the sky and bending down on his knees in disbelief – but the 2025 Indoor World Series Finals champion wanted to live every moment.

“You need to celebrate it because it’s so tough to get to the World Cup Final and I was trying to enjoy every moment because I have some Mexican friends and family are here,” said Wiener, who is also the boyfriend of the compound women world number one Andrea Maya Becerra Arizaga. “Especially my mum in the coach’s box. She’s never done coaching before but she was amazing.”

“It’s more emotional because when someone really close to you like a family member is in the box it feels so much more amazing. They’ve sacrificed a lot for me to be here and I’m so thankful for my family.”

Whilst Bettina may not have been quite as loud as her son, she too was visibly ecstatic right the way through the competition and cried as she watched Nico make Austrian history.

She has been to most competitions her son has entered, including the World Cup stages this year – which Wiener did not win; he booked his ticket to Saltillo through ranking points – as has her husband and Nico’s father Wolfgang.

Wolfgang in fact is a former experienced compound archer himself, having competed at multiple World Target, 3D and Field Championships.

He shot as recently as 2023 and also participated in the Antalya 2019 World Cup alongside his son and coached him in the Turkish city this year at stage 3 of the circuit.

Wiener’s shouts therefore weren’t just for his own joy but a result of all the hard work they have put in as well since he was a junior to get to this point.

“Like when I didn’t have a driving licence, they’d drive me to competitions, buying me more equipment. There’s three of us [children] and we all do sports,” he replied when asked what sacrifices Bettina and Wolfgang had done for him. “I’m thankful for my parents and also my brother, sister, girlfriend and everyone supporting.”

What was more incredible about the 29-year-old at Plaza de Armas was how he was shooting with a wrist brace on his right hand.

He revealed afterwards that it was a minor injury but said he’d recently picked up a pain in the area, no doubt from the insane number of hours of training he does back home in Austria.

So not 100 per cent fully fit, he managed to defeat the current World champion – Girard – the Madrid winner – Gomez Zuluaga – and the ranked number one – Fullerton.

The way he behaved throughout the morning session, though, there wasn’t going to be anything stopping Nico Wiener from being the 2026 World Cup compound men champion. He was on a mission.