Santiago 2023 Parapan Am Games: Yenigladys Suarez defends her shooting crown

Yenigladys Suarez had one wish before travelling to the Parapan American Games in Santiago to defend her gold medal in the P2 – women’s 10m air pistol SH1.

“I want to keep being the Queen of America,” said the Cuban.

And so, she did. The first person from Cuba to win gold in shooting Para sport at the 2019 edition in Lima, Suarez made history again with another triumph in the P2 on Sunday (19 November) at the Poligono de Tiro de Pudahuel.

The Cuban also holds the Games record with her score of 227.4 points at  Lima 2019. In Santiago, she beat a field from Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica and Mexico. 

Suarez scored 225.1 for gold, followed by Costa Rica’s Paola Arana in second (her country’s first-ever medal in a major shooting Para sport event) and Debora Campos from Brazil in third. 

“It felt amazing to win in Lima. Up to that point the shooting gold medals had been won by countries like the US or Brazil and I wanted one for my country, too,” Suarez said, looking back at her first gold. 

"I am very happy with this new gold medal, and that's why I enjoyed it just like the first time. The goal I had set for myself was to maintain this title for Cuba, and it's great that I was able to achieve it."

Her family’s name was already in the record books when she topped the podium for the first time. Suarez joined her mother, Eloina Echevarria, a retired champion long jumper and four-time Pan Am Games medallist, as one of Cuba’s sporting greats. 

“I am very proud because my name will always be part of Cuba’s sport’s history," the right-hand shooter added.

How it started

Before Santiago 2023, Suarez was back in Peru’s capital again for the Lima 2023 World Shooting Para Sport Championships in September. Cuba was one of the smallest teams in the competition, with just three athletes, compared to the biggest, India, on 18.

After a promising start in the P2 – women’s 10m air pistol SH1 competition, she finished 18th overall with 544.11 points. The day coincided with the 20th anniversary of the accident, which damaged her spinal cord. 

The shooting range at Las Palmas Air Base was a world away from the gym in Havana on 25 September 2003. The then 15-year-old sprinter was training as part of Cuba’s national junior athletic team when she suffered a trauma to her back and a subsequent loss of leg mobility after lifting a weight.

“That was the day my life changed,” she says. “I was a different person after the accident.”

It would be another six years before the talented athlete, who grew up watching and competing in sports, pursued them again. “It had been very difficult for me up to that point, but then Para sports changed my life because it gave me new interests and motivation.”

With the encouragement of her mother, she took up shooting Para sport, and it was not long before her daughter began to win competitions. 

The now 35-year-old took her first national title in 2011 and has since accumulated a haul of medals, which includes a victory at the Abierto Nacional de Tiro Para Deportivo (Cali 2019 Open International Shooting Para Sport Competition) in the P3 – mixed 25m pistol SH1.

But it was not until Suarez won her gold medal in Lima in 2019 that she decided to view the sport as her career instead of engineering, which the university graduate had previously chosen. 

“In the beginning when I took up shooting Para sport, it was mostly like a hobby and a reason to go out of the house, where I mainly stayed. It was a way for me to be around people,” she explained.

“What changed for me after winning gold in Lima was to see the sport, which I really liked, as my profession.” 

Shooting Para sport is the ultimate test of accuracy, concentration, and control. It requires mental and physical stamina for an athlete to aim a gun at a 11.5mm-wide centre ring on a target up to 50m away. It also requires hours of training to get to the elite level.

“When I am competing, I create an environment where it is just me and my pistol. The world can be falling around me, but I wouldn’t notice because I am super-focused. I am focused on one shot at a time. 

“My mind processes it in a really technical way. I have to control my breathing, and if I stop for a little bit, I have to remind myself to breath.”

Plans for Paris 

Suarez now travels the world, representing her country at major shooting competitions. It is an opportunity for her to compete alongside the finest athletes in the sport, many of whom have become friends despite being rivals. 

“There are always beautiful moments when we come together,” she told her social media followers. 

In recognition of her outstanding achievements, the popular shooter was featured on the poster advertising the Osijek 2023 World Shooting Para Sport World Cup in Croatia, which was held in July. She came sixth in the P2 – women’s 10m air pistol SH1.

Looking further ahead, her dream would be to make more sporting history by winning gold at the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games. 

“I have already won a P2 10m final, and if I am in the finals in Paris, it would be amazing. I will be aiming for a medal.”

Supporting her in her dream of Paralympic glory will be her mother and her husband, Francisco Francis Landin, who are “the most important people in my life”. 

But when she lines up at the Games, she also hopes that her sport will get the support that it deserves with more coverage in the media worldwide. And besides, it could encourage other people with disabilities, including in Cuba and in nations where it is little known, to get involved. 

“There is not as much coverage of shooting Para sport as I would like. There is some coverage of athletics and swimming but not much on other sports.”

Suarez keeps doing the best she can. The gold at Santiago 2023 was her third medal on the biggest Para sporting event in the Americas, as she also has a bronze in the P3 – mixed 25m sport pistol SH1 from Lima 2019. 

“It’s so important for me to represent Cuba and to hear my national anthem," she concluded. 

How to follow

The Santiago 2023 Parapan American Games is streamed live on the PanAm Sports Channel.

Complete shooting Para sport schedule and results are available here.