Local star Andres Aguilar made the most of home conditions and his excellent form to claim his first individual continental title at the South American Championships, being held alongside the second leg of the 2026 Grand Prix of the Americas, in Santiago, Chile.
Aguilar, winner at last month’s first leg of the Grand Prix of the Americas at San Salvador, outplayed Ecuador’s Juan Pablo Peralta Alvarez 6-0 for the recurve men’s gold medal. The 58th-ranked Aguilar displayed complete domination across the elimination rounds – the only exception a narrow 6-5 semi-final win over Andres Gallardo.
Top seed and another local favourite Gallardo settled for the bronze after a 7-1 win over fellow archer Ángel Moises Vega Valdivia, repeating the result of Medellin 2025 South American Championships.
Both Aguilar and Gallardo — who were part of Chile’s gold medal winning team at Marica 2024 South American Championships – yet again guided the home team to men’s team gold medal. They will once again be in action on Saturday fighting for the bronze medal at the Santiago 2026 Grand Prix of the Americas.
The recurve women final was an all-Brazilian affair with second seed Graziela Paulino dos Santos thumping top seed Ana Clara Dias De Carvalho Machado 7-1. The result repeated the outcome of the World Ranking event in Bolivia back in 2018, when dos Santos also clinched her first individual title.
Machado later combined with Mateus Carvalho to help Brazil take the recurve mixed team gold 6-0 over Chile.
