August 19, 2025
WINNIPEG, Canada – Archery’s best young talent will be on full display north of the border as the 2025 World Archery Youth Championships get underway on Wednesday.
The USA has sent a 24-person team to Canada, where they will compete in compound and recurve. The team includes Christian Stoddard, Gabriella Sasai, Joshua Baek, Liko Arreola, Grady Kane and Emma Kim. All were involved in the 2023 edition in Ireland.
Sasai and Stoddard claimed recurve U18 mixed team silver when the World Youth Championships were held two years ago. Kane was part of the compound U18 men’s team to win bronze. Arreola won individual bronze in compound U18 women and enjoyed silver with the U18 women’s team.
Stoddard, who was one of a few now in Canada to battle the heat of Missouri this past weekend at the USA Archery Target Nationals and U.S. Open in Springfield, will also be on the senior team for next month’s World Archery Championships in Korea. Others involved in Outdoor Nationals who are now in the global spotlight are Arreola, Kane and Kim. Arreola grabbed silver on Saturday at the Target Nationals.
The USA managed an impressive 10 medals from the World Youth Championships in 2023, with three being gold, three silver and four bronze. Only Korea and India (both 11) took home more medals.
Just under 500 athletes, from 54 nations, are in Winnipeg. The event was delayed by 24 hours due to travel disruption, but that delay has only served to heighten the anticipation.
Right across the board, this young USA team is brimming with talent. From the aforementioned archers with previous World Youth experience to their name, to those who have since emerged and taken the USAT Qualifier Series by storm.
The compound U18 men, for example, involves Caleb Quiocho, Brady Wonch and Suraj Nalam who are driving one another on.
Arreola’s previous experience will be a huge asset for debutants Kaylee Gurney and Abigail Winterton (pictured) in compound U21 women. That said, Gurney has enjoyed success on the senior stage this year – winning the USA Archery Indoor Nationals Final and taking bronze at the AAE Arizona Cup – while Winterton medaled with the senior national team at the World Cup.
Gurney admitted, “It’s definitely an achievement to make the team for sure. It’s tough to put into words but that moment I realized I’d made the team, that felt really good.
“With this being my debut, there’s not much I can really expect. I’m just going to shoot the best I can.”
Among the many USA archers making their World Archery Youth Championships debut is Samantha Ensign (recurve U21 women). She said, “This has been my dream for a while, so it means a lot to me. I’m very patriotic so I’m super excited to support Team USA and to support my teammates.”
Elsewhere, Jack Krengel, Zack Neilson, Kim and Gurney all medaled at the recent Junior Pan American Games in Paraguay. Baek and Stoddard are both USAT Qualifier Series silver medalists in the senior division, at the Easton Foundations SoCal Showdown and Easton Foundations Gator Cup respectively.
Hailey Franzone was on the USAT Qualifier Series podium twice this year in recurve U18 women, as was Ye-eun Whang.
Savannah O’Donohue was a two-time gold medalist at this year’s USATs. Khloe Markle and Julia Cook were also among the medals. Jackson Miller took bronze at the final USAT of the season, the Rebel Gear Buckeye Classic last month.
Following travel disruption, a new, tentative, schedule can be found below:
Wednesday: Qualifications
Thursday: Eliminations
Friday: Eliminations and team finals (afternoon)
Saturday: Compound finals
Sunday: Recurve finals
* Subject to change
You can follow all the scores and results here, and watch finals coverage from Winnipeg from 22-24 August with a subscription to archery+.
U21
RECURVE MEN
RECURVE WOMEN
Christian Stoddard
Gabrielle Sasai
Jack Krengel
Emma Kim
Joshua Baek
Samantha Ensign
COMPOUND MEN
COMPOUND WOMEN
Grady Kane
Liko Arreola
Jacob Merkel
Kaylee Gurney
Zachary Neilson
Abigail Winterton
U18
RECURVE MEN
RECURVE WOMEN
Liam Lee
Ye-eun Whang
Carson Chan
Akshara Vijay
Jackson Miller
Hailey Franzone
COMPOUND MEN
COMPOUND WOMEN
Caleb Quiocho
Savannah O’Donohue
Brody Wonch
Khloe Markle
Suraj Nalam
Julia Cook