SLO County archer wins 2 golds in her first international event. Here’s what’s next for her
A San Luis Obispo County archer is now a champion on the international level — times two, and on her first try.
Bella Otter, a Cuesta College student and 19-year-old Atascadero resident, won two gold medals at the 2022 Youth and Masters Pan American Championships in Halifax, Nova Scotia, in her first-ever competition on the world stage.
Otter won individual U21 (under 21) compound female gold, as well as U21 mixed team gold. In an exhibition match with Canada, Team USA also won in the U21 compound event.
The competition took place May 30 through June 5, where she competed for the U.S. team.
Otter told The Tribune that during the qualification rounds she shot in the “windiest conditions I’ve ever shot in” but managed to be ranked No. 1.
Otter is a compound archer, a category that uses a bow with a levering system of cables and pulleys to bend the limbs. The draw tension is comparably light and easy compared to recurve bow archery.
The recurve bow has limbs curving away from the archer and increases in tension as the archer draws the arrow back (resembling a traditional hunting bow).
“Because I was the top-ranking U21 (under 21) compound female from the U.S. (also the top-ranking female competitor overall), I got to be a part of the USA U21 mixed team with Tyler Heritage as my teammate, the top-ranked USA male in our U21 division,” Otter said in an email.
The American duo beat El Salvador by a narrow margin in the scoring, she said, making for a thrilling match.
Single shot to win
In her individual competition, Otter worked her way through elimination matches to the gold medal round, again facing an El Salvadoran opponent.
“She started out ahead, and as we got near the end I took the lead by a single point, and we finished our last round and tied,” Otter said.
That led to a shoot-off to decide the event, with both opponents letting fly single arrows with closet to the center winning.
“The only thing I cared about was making a shot with an execution process I was proud of,” Otter said. “It was a little windy that day, and I hit the second ring closest to center (the 9 ring). In the end, her final arrow landed in the 8 ring, which brought victory my way.”
Otter described it as “an incredible experience.”
“Getting to represent the USA alongside my incredibly fun and talented teammates was amazing, and the whole experience was more enriching when I was able to interact with archers all over the Americas who were from totally different backgrounds yet all equally excited about the sport,” Otter said.
She added: “The intense and high-pressure gold medal matches were a true test of the mental management work that I’ve been committing myself to, and it was a beautiful thing to see it come together in a way that I’ll remember (and learn from) in every competition from here on out.”
Otter said she hopes to carry the experience and knowledge of a successful event to her first World Cup competition, to be held in France June 21-26 in Paris, where she’ll compete as a member of the American compound women’s archery team.
The World Cup is the highest level of her sport, since the Olympics doesn’t hold a compound archery event.
“I’ll be equipped with both the lessons and the confidence that these Pan American Championships brought,” Otter said.
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