Aztec Arrows Fall Short in Quest for Olympic Gold

The Mexican mixed archery team, made up of Alejandra Valencia and Matías Grande, was eliminated in the quarterfinals of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, leaving the country without the opportunity to defend the bronze medal obtained in Tokyo 2020 by the Sonoran and Luis Álvarez.

The Aztec duo appeared on the shooting line to face the round of 16 against the Brazilians Ana Caetano and Marcus D'Almeida, number one in the men's world ranking, whom they defeated 5-1 in a duel that became complicated from the second set, but was defined with two arrows of 10 by Valencia.

In the round of the eight best teams, the Yecheon 2024 World Cup champions would clash head-to-head with the Germans Michelle Kroppen and Florian Unruh, sixth in the world as a duo and who had beaten the Colombians Ana Rendón and Santiago Arcila 5-4 in the qualifying phase.

The current Central American champions fell in the first set 37-38, so they recovered and added 38 points in the next, but the Europeans achieved the same mark to go 3-1 on the scoreboard and leave the Mexicans on the ropes.

Already in the last episode, Kroppen and Unruh achieved three perfect qualification arrows, for two of their opponents, to secure their classification to the semifinals by winning 39-38 in the chapter and 5-1 on the final scoreboard.

The Aztec arrows will have the opportunity for revenge in the individual elimination rounds, where both are installed in the round of 16. The current world runner-up will be in action this Saturday, August 3, while the Pan American champion will do the same a day later on the last Olympic day of this sport.

Matías Grande concludes his first experience in the Olympic Games

The Mexican archer Matías Grande Kalionchiz concluded his first experience in the Olympic Games, after being beaten 4-6 by the Frenchman Baptiste Addis in the round of 16 of the men's individual event in Paris 2024.

After leaving Otgonbold Baatarkhuyag (Mongolia) and Jorge Enríquez (Colombia) on the way in his first elimination duels, the silver medalist at the Santiago 2023 Pan American Games returned to the shooting line searching for getting into the fight for the medals.

The Yecheon 2024 World Cup champion presented himself with authority and fought an electrifying duel with the local archer. Grande Kalionchiz took the second and fourth sets, while his rival did the same in the first and third so that the winner was defined in a fifth episode, where the European achieved 29 points to his rival's 26.

In this way, the representative of Guanajuato finished his individual performance in the French capital, in addition to having obtained the seventh place overall in mixed teams in tandem with Alejandra Valencia, and the ninth position in teams with Javier Rojas and Bruno Martínez.

The Aztec archery representative says goodbye to Paris 2024 with the achievement of a bronze medal by the women's team, made up of Alejandra Valencia (now a double Olympic medalist after her bronze in Tokyo 2020), Ana Paula Vázquez and Ángela Ruiz.

Alejandra Valencia says goodbye to Paris 2024 with a bronze

With her fourth experience in the Olympic Games and a historic bronze medal for women's teams, archer Alejandra Valencia Trujillo concluded her participation in Paris 2024, being eliminated in the quarterfinals of the individual event.

After giving Mexican archery its first Olympic medal together, together with Ana Vázquez and Ángela Ruiz, as well as falling in the round of 16 in the mixed team with Matías Grande, the also bronze winner in Tokyo 2020 sought to surpass her best individual performance in the summer event (fourth place in Rio 2016).

The world runner-up in Berlin 2023 returned to the shooting line thirsty for revenge to face the Chinese Li Jiaman, number 15 in the world, in the round of 16.

The shooters provided an exciting clash from the start with high scores and equal scores in three of the first four sets, but the Asian took the third to set her on the path to victory; however, Valencia fought hard and triumphed in the fifth set to decide everything in a golden arrow, instance in which her shot was closer to the promised zone than her rival's to win the match 6-5.

The challenge in the quarterfinals was Lim Sihyeon, number two in the world and from South Korea, a nation considered the greatest power in this sport. Although, it should be remembered that the Sonoran defeated her 6-5 in a golden arrow during the semifinals of the Final of the Hermosillo 2023 World Cup.

The first two episodes ended in a draw and the number three in the world triumphed in the third, although the South Korean, who broke the world record in the qualifier with 694 points, did not fall into despair and came from behind with perfect qualification arrows at the key moments to win two consecutive sets and move on to the semifinals with a score of 6-4, which consummated the elimination of the Aztec.

The three-time Pan American champion says goodbye to the "City of Light" as the fourth Mexican woman to win multiple medals at the Olympic Games, joining a select group of legends made up of María del Rosario Espinoza (taekwondo), as well as Paola Espinosa and Alejandra Orozco (both in diving).

The national archery team will conclude its performance in Paris 2024 this Sunday when Matías Grande, the current Pan American champion, competes in the round of 16 in the men's individual event.

Alejandra Valencia describes this Olympic cycle as “memorable”

Alejandra Valencia Trujillo's Olympic journey in Paris 2024 came to an end this Saturday, after she lost to Korean Lim Sihyeon 6-4 in the quarter-final round in the women's individual event.

The archer from Sonora, who won bronze in the women's team event in the French capital, highlighted that, after the close match against the Asian rival, it was shown that Mexico is a powerhouse, since being among the best eight in the great event is not an easy task.

“That's how things are, that's how sport is and that's how I got the key; I shot pretty well, I defended myself, but we both shot well. Last time I beat her, now she beat me, and at this moment they are all going to be very strong because we all want to win, but only one will be,” said the athlete

Alejandra Valencia described her time at Paris 2024 as positive. “The bronze was good, obviously we wanted another one of a different color, we knew we could achieve it, but that also motivates us to know that we are there in the fight, that we are among the best in the world and that Mexico is a power, that we are also the rival to beat, that we are difficult,” she argued.

She highlighted the achievements made in this Olympic cycle that concluded with her bronze in the French capital.

“It was a fast cycle because it was three years after the Central American Games, the Pan American Games and receiving the National Sports Award and this historic medal was a very memorable cycle for me,” she said.