Friday, November 3rd, 2023.- All eyes in the morning session of archery at the Santiago 2023 Pan American Games were on Chile's Ricardo Soto, who faced a highly challenging match against Jack Williams, the representative of the United States and ranked 28th globally among archers.

The athlete from Arica, ranked 33rd in the world, immediately set himself apart from the first arrow, scoring five 10s in his 12 attempts, resulting in a convincing 6-2 victory. The crowd at Parque Peñalolén rallied behind the local favorite, who had won silver in the team event in Lima 2019 but hadn't made an individual impact.

As a result, Soto will face another American, Jackson Mirich, ranked 55th, in the semifinals for a chance to compete in an unprecedented gold medal match next Sunday. "It was a highly competitive match. We entered confidently and strong, which gave us an advantage from the start. I shot at an extremely high level. I had decisive arrows to earn important points. It was a very tough job, and what's important is that we achieved our goal," said the Olympian from Rio 2016.

Chile's participation in the day also included the defeat of Alejandro Martín in the quarterfinals of compound archery against American archer Sawyer Sullivan. The local archer, who will now compete in team events, lost with a score of 147 to 143 against the young Texan star, a silver medalist in the recent archery world championship.

Written by Macarena Navias y Nicolás Olea; translated by Felipe Vergara / Photosport
Photo by Jorge Loyola / Santiago 2023 / Photosport