Vazquez arrives at next week’s Pan American Championships in Tlaxcala in both strong physical and mental form, and as one of the favourites on home soil.
Then, in September, another opportunity awaits. Should she qualify, she could contest her second Hyundai Archery World Cup Final in front of a home crowd in Saltillo – a prospect that makes her “genuinely excited”.
Vazquez made her World Cup Final debut in Yankton in 2021, but in the five years since, her relationship with archery has changed completely.
“I see archery as an angel that fell from the sky for me, one that I almost lost,” she said. “With a lot of desire, I caught him by the foot and I was able to hold on to him.”
More than anything, Vazquez now feels grateful simply to be able to shoot again.
“Now I see a bad arrow as: ‘I just shot an arrow.’ I could not shoot, I could not even pull a bow,” she said.
“And now, if I shoot an eight, I still think: ‘I just shot an arrow at 70 metres.’ Those are things we forget.
“But if, unfortunately, something happened that prevented us from shooting again, we would give anything to shoot an arrow, even if it missed the target.”
“I think that is why bad scores no longer weigh on me as much. I know there are people who can no longer shoot and miss it, and I was fortunate enough to be able to come back.”
