Vegas Shoot 2026: First Champions Crowned

The conclusion of the Championship scoring on Sunday morning saw new champions crowned and some big Sunday showdowns set up.

Casey Kaufhold defended her title from last year and took a third overall, winning recurve female with room to spare with 884, four points ahead of USA teammate Catalina Gnoriega with 880 and Gaby Schloesser with 879.

"The second day, my shots felt so good. Like I think the second day out of all three, I had the best focus, the best shots all day. And then today I started out so calm. Like I just I really just felt so good around the halfway point. I started to feel a little more nervous and I was like, you know, it's okay. Like it's a good thing to be nervous. So I told myself like, thank you for the nerves! I had maybe a few nines that I wish I could take back, but I finished the last two ends with a 30, which felt really strong," she said. "It's actually been a whole year since I've won an individual international title. It was here last year at Vegas. I've had a little bit of a tough year, but I made a lot of changes, and so I'm really proud of myself for coming here and finishing first, and especially doing it back-to-back feels really good." said Casey.

In the recurve men's competition, Brady Ellison, who led the field every day, took the win outright with a score of 886, just edging out by a single point Santiago Arcila of Colombia and Marcus D'Almeida of Brazil, who will shootdown for 2nd and 3rd spots.

It was Brady's 12th recurve title, but not a vintage year by his standards. "I feel lucky this weekend. I think I have to be completely honest. The scores that we all shot this weekend, I think we haven't shot for a long, long time. And I think it's just one of those weekends that I got lucky."

"Today I was just trying to make sure that like I never gave up or I never got frustrated...  I'm probably going to take the kids to mini golf and then try to get them to bed, go watch the shoot-offs, get on a plane at 5 a.m. in the morning and get home – and set up an outdoor bow in the snow."

Kimberly Landry of Minnesota took top prize in the Championship Compound Senior Female category with a score of 885, edging leader Christina Davis – last year's runner up – into another 2nd place.

"It means a lot," said Landry, who is returning to the Vegas Shoot after a three year absence. "I worked very hard to get here and the nerves are very difficult to deal with, but I struggled through it and came from eighth place and worked my way up to first place today. I tried not to think about what place I'm in or my score. I just try to think about the process and hopefully that could get me to where I needed to go."

Madelyn Yi of Texas won the Championship Recurve Young Adult competition with a score of 860. "I'm just really happy that like all the hard work like actually paid off. After I shot a lower score yesterday, I was really trying to focus on the shot process and having a good movement through the clicker. And that was really helpful, only focusing on that and not just the score." It was Yi's second win after taking the Young Adult Female title last year. "This is my first time winning championship and shooting championship. Last year, I was trying to decide between whether to shoot championship or non-championship, I think I really enjoy this a lot more just because I feel like the scores are more competitive, and I just prefer shooting smaller targets honestly!" The Championship Compound Senior title will require a shootdown to decide the winner after Reo Wilde, Grant Schleusner, Andy Fochuk and Jeff McKee all finished on 899, as will the Championship Barebow Recurve Open, and Championship Compound Young Adult titles.

All ties, as usual, will be decided on the stage in the PH Theater. You can watch the Championship shootdowns from Sunday 6.30pm Vegas time on the NFAA YouTube channel. Follow @TheVegasShoot on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok for the latest updates.