Mariana Bernal punished Andrea Becerra right at the death to become the 2025 Hyundai Archery World Cup Champion in a gripping all-Mexican compound women’s final in Nanjing.
In far from ideal conditions – shooting into a westerly wind and a slight chill – both archers started superbly, each recording perfect scores for the first three of five ends to leave it tied at 90 apiece.
Recently crowned world champion Becerra extended her inch-perfect precision into the fourth end, while teammate Bernal dropped her first nine of the match with the final arrow of the set – astonishingly, it took 24 arrows before one landed in the outer yellow ring.
That slim advantage looked like it would be enough for Becerra to add another gold to her extraordinary 2025 campaign, having already won in Florida, Antalya (stages one and three), the Hyundai World Archery Championships and the World Games. But consecutive nines in the last end opened the door for Bernal, who shot 9, 10, 9 to force a shoot-off.
Both archers shot 10s – but Bernal’s arrow caught the top of the X-ring, while Becerra’s sat low in the 10, giving the 22-year-old her first World Cup title.
“I’m feeling really happy, very blessed that life has given me this opportunity to represent Mexico at the highest level,” said Bernal, fighting back tears on the field. “I’m just feeling really happy that all the hard work I’ve put in has paid off.”
“A lot of the wind was really taking a lot of my nines and I was like, ‘It’s okay, just focus and be strong again.’ At the end, I was just focused on shooting a really good 10, I saw the X-ring and told myself, ‘There – you have to shoot it,’ and I did.”
Becerra, as in most competitions these days, entered as the favourite to win at Nanjing Olympic Museum – but it must not be forgotten that Bernal had already beaten her compatriot earlier this year.
