The Daule 2026 South American Youth and Masters Open Championships open in Daule, Ecuador, on Wednesday, with 16 medallists from Santiago 2025 among the 112 archers entered.
Organised by the Federación Ecuatoriana de Tiro con Arco (FETA), the event is open to U15, U18, U21, and 50+ archers in recurve, compound, and barebow. Most categories carry two titles, with the Open events, which include club entries and archers from outside the continent, decided on Friday and the South American Championship medals settled across the weekend.
Competition takes place at the facilities of the Makarios Archery Sports Club, which also has six archers entered in the Open events.
Host nation Ecuador accounts for more than half the field with 58 archers, 43 on the national team and 15 entered through local clubs. Chile follows with 16 athletes and Brazil with 11, while club entries from Great Britain, India, Morocco, and the USA bring the total to 13 nations.
Chile arrives as the nation to beat after topping the medal table at the 2025 edition in Santiago with 47 medals, 20 of them gold. Argentina, which finished second with 33 medals, is not entered this year, leaving several titles without a defending champion.
The compound U21 women’s event features the deepest field of returning medallists. Chile’s Aurora Olea Prado won both the Open and South American Championship titles in Santiago and is joined in the division by teammate Catalina Victoria Torres Leiva, who moves up from U18 after taking silver in both events last year.
Ecuador’s Dana Victoria Navarrete Vargas, the 2025 U18 champion, also steps up a category but is entered through Apex Archery and will contest the Open event only. Blanca Maritza Rodrigo Bueno, silver medallist in the South American Championship final last year, gives the hosts a further contender.
Oscar Omar Enrique Verdugo Viñales remains in compound U18 men after winning both individual titles and the mixed team gold alongside Torres Leiva in Santiago. Brazil’s Henrique Mezzacapa, runner-up to Verdugo Viñales in both finals, now competes in U21.
In recurve, Chile’s Ángel Moises Vega Valdivia returns as the Open U21 men’s champion. He faces Juan Pablo Peralta Alvarez, Ecuador’s most decorated archer in Santiago with four medals, and Brazil’s Eduardo Diamantino, who won the recurve U21 mixed team title last year.
Brazil’s Sophia Medeiros, who also collected four medals in 2025, including Open gold in recurve U18 women, moves up to U21. Chilean pair Sabrina Nicolette NuÑez Castillo and Alejandra Ignacia Bravo Peña finished first and second in both recurve U15 women’s events last year and now meet again in U18.
Among the masters, Colombia’s Gildardo Anselmo Fuentes won the Open recurve 50+ men’s title in Santiago while competing for the Gandiva Archery Club. Entered with the Colombian national team this year, he is eligible for the South American Championship title as well. Argentine archers filled all six podium places in last year’s South American Championship recurve 50+ events, so both divisions will crown new champions.
