USA responded to recent near misses to pip Türkiye to recurve men gold at Puebla 2026 in what was the most enthralling match at the first stage of the 2026 Hyundai World Cup.
It was the definition of a back-and-forth contest as Brady Ellison, Christian Stoddard, and Jack Williams took the initiative in the first set 55-54 whilst Mete Gazoz, Berkim Tumer – both in Türkiye’s Paris 2024 Olympic bronze team – and Berkay Akkoyun responded even stronger in the second 56-55.
The two nations in the latter two normal ends could not be separated as they tied the third 53-53 – where USA failed to land any arrows in the 10 whilst World Cup stage debutant Akkoyun dropped a seven – and then 57-57 in the fourth to leave the scoreline at 4-4, forcing a three-arrow tiebreaker – a much rarer occurrence than in recurve individuals.
Even in that they equalled one another, dropping 29 apiece but the great Ellison – who was on the last USA team that won World Cup gold at Wroclaw 2015 with Sean Mclaughlin and Collin Klimitchek 11 years ago – saved the day for his country once again when it mattered, shooting the only X of the shoot-off whilst Türkiye’s Xs fell out of the spider.
“I really didn’t think that gold would feel so different than silver,” said 20 year old archer Stoddard, a member of the team that finished runners up in Madrid 2025 – stage four last season and Gwangju last year. “Obviously you’re disappointed to win the silver medal, you try really hard.”
“You understand you’ve worked really hard to get that silver, but winning the gold and winning it under pressure, it means so much more to me.”
“I didn’t realize how emotional that could be to win gold, especially on the World Cups because I won the gold with my team at the World Youth Championships last year, and that was incredible, but to win it at this stage, and especially shoot a match that I’m just super proud of, like that was a different feeling than I’ve ever felt.”
