Santiago 2023 Review: YanXiao Gong leads USA, Maria Restrepo puts Colombia on top

Gold medals from Marco de la Rosa, Stetson Bardfield and YanXiao Gong put the United States on the top of the medals table in shooting Para sport for the second consecutive Parapan American Games at Santiago 2023. 

Brazil, Cuba and Colombia also claimed golds during the four days of competition (18 to 21 November) at the Poligono de Tiro de Pudahuel on the outskirts of the Chilean capital.

Eight out of the 13 participant nations managed to reach the podium, three more than at Lima 2019 when shooting Para sport joined the Parapan Am Games competition programme for the first time.

Santiago 2023 saw historical first medals to Argentina, Costa Rica and Uruguay. 

Day one 

Colombia made history right at the opening event of the programme with Maria Restrepo’s victory in the R3 - mixed 10m air rifle prone SH1. It was the first shooting gold for the country at a Parapan Am Games.

Restrepo scored 252.3 for a new final Parapan Am Games record. Peru took silver and bronze with Milagros Palomino and Jorge Arcela, respectively. Arcela set a new qualification Parapan Am Games record earlier in the day (635.6). 

“This result reflects the effort, dedication, and hard work that has been done. What has been achieved is unbelievable, something too big," said Restrepo, who also achieved a Paris 2024 Paralympic Games qualification quota for her country.

The second final of the day had a USA podium sweep in the P3 – mixed 25m pistol SH1. Lima 2023 world champion YanXiao Gong once again got the best out of his trip to South America bagging gold with a final Parapan Am Games record (24) – adding to his qualification record in the event (569).

Marco de la Rosa finished second and Michael Tagliapietra third. 

Day two

De la Rosa improved the colour of his medal in the first event of Sunday’s action at Pudahel. He won the men’s P1 – 10m air pistol SH1 with a score 0.9 ahead of Cuba’s silver medallist Di Angelo Loriga (227.6-226.7).
USA’s Gong finished with the bronze medal this time. Cuban shooter Alexander Reyna set a qualification record of 560 but had to settle for a fifth place in the final.

"I haven't really been focusing on the medals but on the shots and the process. Sometimes I would falter, and that's because I didn't remember the process. But by doing so, I returned to what was expected, although I got nervous watching the Cuban climb up. The competition was tough, and now, after winning the gold, I want to relax," De la Rosa said after his first Parapan Am gold.

Cuban star Yenigladys Suarez defended her Lima 2019 title in the P2 – 10m air pistol SH1 on Sunday scoring 225.1 in the final. Paola Arana picked a first-ever shooting Para sport medal to Costa Rica with her silver followed by Brazil’s Debora Campos in third place.

Day three

Suarez returned on Monday to lead a Cuban one-two podium in the  P4 – mixed 50m pistol SH1 (206.9). Her compatriot Loriga grabbed his second silver at Santiago 2023, while Lima 2019 champion Geraldo von Rosenthal from Brazil took the bronze medal. USA’s Gong set a qualification record of 539 but finished fifth. 

"The gold medal was his; I was going to be second, but he had a bad move in the last shot," Suarez said, referring to Loriga. “The important thing is what we achieved for Cuba. I leave Chile with good feelings because I exceeded my goals. From now on, I must continue to fight to qualify for the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games." 

Brazil’s first gold at the Poligono de Tiro de Pudahuel came in the R1/R2 – mixed 10m air rifle standing SH1. Marcelo Marton set a final R1 Parapan Am Games record scoring 240.9 leaving Peru’s Arcela in second and Palomino in third. 

Palomino also set a final record for the R2 (217.4). Arcela scored a qualification record in the R1 (614.5) and USA’s Taylor Farmer a qualification record in the R2 (606.0) a few hours earlier.

The R5 – mixed 10m air rifle prone SH2 was the last event on Monday’s schedule. USA’s Stetson Bardfield retained the gold from Lima 2019 scoring a final Parapan Am Games record (253.4). Brazil’s Alexandre Galgani took the silver and also set a qualification record (636.3). 

Maria Rodriguez ended with the bronze medal, the first to Argentina in Parapan American Games. 

Day four 

Maria Restrepo took her second gold in Santiago to put Colombia on top again in the R6 – mixed 50m rifle prone SH1. She dominated the event since the qualification in which she set a new record (617.6). 

The silver medal went to Brazilian Carlos Garletti, who repeated his result of Lima 2019, and the bronze medal to USA shooter Kevin Nguyen, who finished first four years ago.

The final gold medal of the shooting Para sport programme at Santiago 2023 went to Brazil. Alexandre Galgani scored 252.3 for a new final Parapan Am Games record in the R4 – mixed 10m air rifle standing SH2.

Carmelo Milan took Uruguay’s first-ever medal at a Parapan Am Games finishing second with Argentina’s Rodriguez in third place. Sixth place Bruno Kiefer of Brazil established a new qualification record (628.6).

“The medal had a taste of mission accomplished, I can’t even describe [the feeling],” said Galgani, who achieved a Paris 2024 quota for Brazil in the event. “Now I want to focus on the Paralympic Games to try to repeat everything I did here, or even improve it.”

Complete results, records and medallists from shooting Para sport at Santiago 2023 can be found here.