“Largest since London,” says World Archery President on crowd at Archery World Cup Final

On a weekend that saw favourites fall early and the competition brackets turned on their heads, a packed 4,500-seat stadium witness athletes make Archery World Cup Final history.

Demir Elmaagacli won Turkey its first medal at the event when he took gold in the compound men’s competition, just after Sara Lopez became the first woman to win back-to-back World Cup Champion titles.

At 19 years of age, Korea’s Choi Misun ended her impressive debut season, which included a win at the Aquece Rio Olympic test event, with the recurve women’s Archery World Cup crown.

The biggest upset came when lowest qualifier, the seventh seed, Miguel Alvarino Garcia upset the brackets to win the recurve men’s competition. Garcia had been quiet in the second half of the season, since winning the inaugural European Games in Baku.

It was for the mixed team finals featuring Mexico, and when Mexican athletes Linda Ochoa and Stephanie Salinas took to the field of play to contest the compound women’s bronze medal, which Linda won, that the capacity crowd really came alive.

“This is simply the largest crowd we’ve had since the archery at the Olympic Games in London,” said World Archery President Prof Dr Ugur Erdener. Archery received one of the highest spectator satisfaction ratings of any sport at those Games.

“Both in the impressive stadium, and the millions of fans following online and broadcast footage around the world, it’s indicative of the growth in popularity of archery at all levels.”

The Mexico City 2015 Archery World Cup Final marked a decade of the international circuit, as it returned to the country that hosted the first Final, which was held in the Mayapan Pyramids of Merida rather than the capital.

“The iconic Zócalo square, surrounded by historical buildings whose foundations span 700 years, provided a dramatic backdrop for our 10th anniversary and the modern competitive evolution of a sport that’s equally as rooted in tradition. We have received many positive comments from our fans, partners and stakeholders on the beautiful location and exciting competition,” said Prof Dr Erdener.

“Congratulations to our four Archery World Cup Champions for 2015, and we look forward to continuing to innovate in the way our sport is presented as we move into the second decade of the World Cup circuit’s lifetime.”

World Archery returns to Mexico City in 2017, for the next edition of the World Archery Championships. Perhaps the biggest challenge in the two years before then is finding more space for spectators, as the passion for archery in Mexico only appears to be growing.