Canada’s Santiago 2023 archery team announced
TORONTO (October 2, 2023) – Archery Canada and the Canadian Olympic Committee have announced Canada’s archery nominated to compete at the Santiago 2023 Pan American Games.
The Team Canada archery team for the Santiago 2023 Pan American Games is:
Athletes
Recurve:
Stephanie Barrett (Newmarket, Ont. )
Virginie Chénier (Laval, Que. )
Crispin Duenas (Scarborough, Ont. )
Amelia Gagne (Peterborough, Ont.)
Eric Peters (Kitchener, Ont.)
Brandon Xuereb (Laval, Que..)
Compound:
Andrew Fagan (Baltimore, Ont.)
Tristan Moran (Prince Albert, Sask.)
At the 2022 Pan American Championships, Canada qualified a full recurve contingent of three men and three women, as well as two entries for men’s compound, a discipline that has been proposed to the IOC for inclusion at the LA 2028 Olympic Games. Eric Peters earned his nomination to the Pan Am Games team as a direct result of his silver medal performance at this year’s World Archery Championships in Berlin, Germany. The five other recurve athletes earned their nomination to Team Canada based on their performances at a selection camp in mid-September.
Santiago 2023 will be Eric Peter’s second Pan American Games appearance. At Lima 2019, Peters won bronze in men’s individual recurve after losing to teammate Duenas in the semifinals. He also captured gold in the men’s team recurve with Crispin Duenas and Brian Maxwell. Peters made history at the 2023 World Archery Championships where his silver medal was Canada’s best ever finish in men’s individual recurve at the worlds. That result secured Canada an Olympic quota spot in the event for Paris 2024.
Duenas has plenty of multi-Games sport experience to lean on going into his fifth Pan American Games. In his Pan Am Games debut at Rio 2007, Duenas was part of the team who captured silver in the team event. He would go on to win three more Pan Am Games medals – men’s individual recurve silver at Guadalajara 2011 and gold in both the men’s individual recurve and team recurve events at Lima 2019. The four-time Olympian recorded his best individual Olympic result at Tokyo 2020, advancing to the 1/8 finals for Canada’s best finish in any Olympic archery tournament since Montreal 1976.
“I’m honoured to be representing Canada again at my fifth consecutive Pan Am Games,” said Duenas. “It’s always exciting to go to a Games event where there aren’t just archers, but hundreds of athletes with the same mindset. A lot has changed since the last Pan Am Games but my drive still remains the same.”
At Tokyo 2020, Duenas competed in the first Olympic archery mixed team event alongside Stephanie Barrett, who will also be representing Canada at Santiago 2023. Barrett made her Olympic debut following her second-place finish at the American Continental Qualifier event in Monterrey, Mexico in March 2021.
On the women’s side, Team Canada brings together a high level of international experience and development opportunities. Virginie Chénier has been a member of the Archery Canada National Team since 2008. Both Barrett and Chénier were part of the women’s team who earned the three quota spots at last year’s Pan Am Championships with a bronze medal in the team event. Santiago 2023 will mark Amelia Gagne’s debut with the senior team. Gagne has been in the Archery Canada Next Gen pathway since starting with the program in 2019 under former coach Joan McDonald.
“I am super excited to be part of the Pan Am Games team. It’s one of my favorite competitions, especially the village life and the team spirit that Canada has between all the sports,” said Chénier. “We did really well at the Pan Am Championships last year and I’m confident in our ability to perform well at these Games as a team and on the individual side, especially with the solid results we got this season”
This will be the second appearance of the compound discipline at the Pan Am Games. Similar to Peters, Andrew Fagan qualified directly for the Pan Am Games following his ninth-place finish at the World Archery Championships earlier this year. Tristan Moran earned his nomination based on his national ranking in 2023.
“I am really looking forward to competing at the Pan Am Games. It has been 13 years since I last competed at a multi-sport event at the Commonwealth Games in 2010,” said Fagan. “Being selected was somewhat of a surprise for me, after finishing ninth at the world championships in Germany this year. I hope to have a good showing and have the same level of competitiveness down there. Shooting alongside Tristan, he’s a class act, having competed with and against him for years. I look forward to competing at this event with him!”
Santiago 2023 will be both Fagan’s and Moran’s Pan Am Games debuts, but they are no strangers to international competition. Moran, a medallist at the Youth World Championships in 2017, and Fagan, a medallist on the World Cup circuit, continue to be competitive members of the Canadian national team.
Santiago 2023 is a direct qualifier for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games for the mixed team recurve event, as well as the men’s and women’s recurve individual events. The highest ranked duo in the mixed team event will earn one men’s quota spot and one women’s quota spot for their NOC. In the individual events, the top two athletes of each gender from different NOCs will earn quota spots for their country, provided the NOC has not already earned a quota for that gender.
Archery will take place November 1-5 (Days 12 to 16) at the Centro de Tiro con Arco.
“Team Canada’s archers, prepare to showcase your precision and skill at the Pan Am Games,” said Christine Girard, Team Canada’s Santiago 2023 Chef de Mission. “I’m excited to have the privilege to see you draw your bows with purpose, release with confidence, and let your arrows carry the spirit of your unwavering pursuit of excellence!”
Team Canada’s archery team alternate athletes, coaches and support staff for the Santiago 2023 Pan American Games are:
Alternate Athletes:
Eleanor Brug (Vancouver, B.C.)
Audrey Khan Arevalo (Toronto, Ont.)
Reece Wilson-Poyton (St. Catherines, Ont.)
Brian Maxwell (Burnaby, B.C.)
Coaches
Ron Van der Hoff – National Team Advisor & Team Leader
Duncan Crawford – Compound Team Coach
Support Staff
Joseph Leszner – Mental Performance Consultant
Prior to being named to Team Canada, all nominations are subject to approval by the Canadian Olympic Committee’s Team Selection Committee following its receipt of nominations by all National Sport Organisations.
The latest Team Canada Santiago 2023 roster can be found here.
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MEDIA CONTACTS:
Kylah Cawley, High Performance Manager
Archery Canada
C:613-260-2113 ext. 1
E: kcawley@archerycanada.ca
Tara MacBournie, Team Canada Santiago 2023 Sport Communications Lead
Canadian Olympic Committee
C: 647-522-8328
E: tmacbournie@olympic.ca