Canadian Para Archers Shine at 2024 Para Pan Am Championships in São Paulo

São Paulo, BRA (May 1 2024) – The Canadian Para Athletes all brought home some new hardware after a week of competition at the 2024 Para Pan Am Championships in Sao Paulo Brazil, Apr. 22 – 27th 2024.
Representing Canada’s Compound Men, the team of Kyle Tremblay of Deep River, ON and Chris Waterman of Winnipeg BC, advanced over Team Brazil to the Gold Medal match, to meet Gerardo Rodriguez and Victor Viveros Sardina of Mexico. Both Tremblay and Waterman were consistent throughout the 4 ends, shooting a total of 38-36-38-38, to defeat Mexico with a final score of 150-144.
“This win means a great deal to me as it is my first podium finish at an international event,” said Chris Waterman. “Going in as the underdogs I knew we needed to be focused and make every shot count. Winning our first match against Brazil gave me the drive to focus and step up to the challenge as we faced the favorites from Mexico. I am more than proud to be bringing this gold medal home to Canada. Watching the flag being raised to the top as our Anthem played has been the highlight of my archery career. I could not have made it this far without the love and support from my family and friends.”
After strong results through the qualification process, Tremblay also qualified into the Individual Bronze medal match, meeting Victor Viveros Sardina of Mexico, in a replay of the Bronze medal match from Parapan American Games in Chile. Starting off strong with three 10’s, Kyle held the lead and never let go. Both Tremblay and Sardina never shot lower than a nine, with Tremblay being able to edge out his opponent by 2 points with a final score of 146-144.
“I had a good first match, shooting a new personal best high score,” said Tremblay, “I had a little trouble in the second match where things didn’t go my way and then found my way into the Bronze medal match. I was able to rebound and put together another high score that tied my personal best and put me on top to win the Bronze medal again”
The medals didn’t stop there, with Jean-Francois Lavergne of Shannon, Quebec and Shawn Matheson of Carp, ON teaming up to face the host country Brazil, in the Recurve Men’s Doubles Gold Medal Match. This was their first time teaming up since participating in the Para World Ranking event in Chicago in 2023, as Jean-Francois opted out of participating at the 2024 Fazza Para World Ranking event in Dubai, while he adjusted to new equipment. Both men started the matches strong, finishing with a 26 and a 31 in the first two ends, but ultimately fell to the home country with a final score of 6-2.
“It could always get better and obviously we were hoping for the win, nobody goes into these things hoping to come in second, but overall I think it’s a good improvement for us as a team and overall was happy with the performance” stated Shawn. Jean-Francois continued “ Like Shawn said, overall happy, it was a good opportunity for us, in a different country, different weather, extreme heat, different everything to what we are used to back home. We had faced these guys back in Chicago, and they kind of got revenge on us this time, but we will get them next time!”
The Canadian Para team returns home, with their sights set on participating in the upcoming Canada Cup West and East events, while looking forward to the Para World Ranking event in Nove Mesto, Czechia later in June, before the final preparations begin for our Para archer competing at the 2024 Paris Paralympic Games in August 2024.