Photo by World Archery
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - USA Archery has named highly-respected Elias Cuesta as the new National Head Coach, with the 39-year-old taking over from the long-serving KiSik Lee.
Cuesta’s appointment follows an extensive global search, with many experienced candidates pursuing one of the most sought-after roles in world archery.
“Being the national coach of archery within the most successful delegations in the history of the Olympic Games is the greatest honor that can be given to a coach,” said Coach Cuesta.
Cuesta arrives at USA Archery after six years as Head Coach of the Spanish Olympic Team and the Spanish National Team. During the same timeframe, he was a coach at the Madrid High Performance Center.
Born in the southern Spanish city of Granada, Cuesta has also been Coach of the National Sports Technique Plan of the Royal Spanish Archery Federation. He has degrees in Physical Activity and Sport, Technical Physical and Sports Activities. Cuesta is also a personal trainer and holds multiple archery coach certifications.
Some notable Spanish Team results since Cuesta became coach include:
His archery journey began in the summer of 1989, encouraged by his father. Cuesta shared, “I have to thank him because archery is my life, and I love it. And the truth is that everything happened quite quickly.
“In 2000, after the youth national championship, they called me for a national training camp and when I entered the facilities and saw the athletes of the national team, I said: ‘this is where I want to train and the life I want to live.’ And I worked so hard training at home that three years later, I entered the national center as an athlete.”
As an archer, Cuesta trained with coaches from different backgrounds. As well as several Spanish coaches, he also fell under the guidance of Stanislav Zabrodskiy (Russia), Samo Medved (Slovenia) and Cho Hyung-mok (Korea), affording him a much broader appreciation of the sport.
Cuesta competed at the 2012 Olympic Games in London. He represented Spain at five World Archery Championships as well as 16 World Cup stages.
“As an athlete I always wanted to be an Olympian and that is why perhaps my single greatest moment was being able to participate in the 2012 London Olympic Games, but in terms of achievements, it would have to be the many national records I’ve broken,” Cuesta explained. “I also have several international medals at both the individual and team level, and I’ve participated in more than 50 international competitions.”
Cuesta takes over from KiSik Lee, who spent 18 years and five Olympic cycles as National Head Coach of USA Archery. During that time, USA archers won well over 300 medals on the Archery World Cup circuit - more than any other nation - with nearly half of them being gold. USA won five Olympic medals between 2012 and 2024, two recurve gold medals at the World Archery Championships.
Cuesta said of his predecessor, “During my career as an athlete, I was always very restless, and I liked to learn from other athletes and see what the best did. There was one thing that caught my attention and that is that the athletes who trained with Coach Lee (first in Australia and then in the USA) always shot well and were successful so I decided to buy his first book and try to see what I could learn.
“At that time, I was studying sports science so I had some knowledge of biomechanics, anatomy and training so I found for the first time, someone who explained archery from a scientific point of view.
“When I decided to start my coaching career, there was one person, who I respect very much, from whom I have learned a lot about the mental game and to whom I owe a lot, whose name is Ignacio Gomez-Sancha.
“He told me that if I wanted to be the best coach in the world I had to learn from the best. He then asked me who I felt was the best coach in the world and I said KiSik Lee. His answer was, learn everything you can from him and develop your own training system, and so I did.
“Coach Lee has always been motivational for me and will continue to be. I am so grateful for all the help he has given me and for everything he has contributed to archery. He's like a father in archery.”
An advisory group – consisting of an Olympian, an elite coach and a former independent board member with multiple sports background – assisted USA Archery CEO, Rod Menzer in the search and selection process.
“Our goal at USA Archery was to find the best coach to continue our programs, support our athletes, develop champions and win Olympic medals. In Elias Cuesta we have just that. We couldn’t be more excited to have him join us at USA Archery,” began CEO Rod Menzer.
“He is a student of the sport, respected by archers, coaches and federations around the world, and is incredibly personable. He has the hunger, passion and desire to further archery in the USA. Elias knows what it takes to be an Olympian as an archer and a coach.”
Cuesta is well known and well regarded on the international circuit and will be no stranger to the USA’s elite archers.
Though familiar with the National Training System (NTS) created by KiSik Lee, Cuesta is a coach of all styles, depending on what works best for the athlete. He believes in the NTS but is an open coach and will work on what is best for each archer to make them better.
“My style of coaching is based on two pillars. First, focusing on the process to the best of the team’s abilities, with full attention to every single detail, and then let the outcome take care of itself; and then working on the mental game of the archers to develop a winning mentality.”
Coach Cuesta was attracted to the role by the desire to “return the United States to the place it deserves.”
He continued, “I am absolutely stoked to work with the most talented archers in the world. The upcoming LA28 Olympics will add an extra layer of enthusiasm to the whole team. We will give our all to make the country proud of its archers.”
With Chris Webster remaining as Assistant Head Coach and the Head Coach of the National Elite Program in North Carolina, the USA has a coaching staff that is unmatched anywhere in the world.
Coach Webster commented, “I am very excited to see a coach of Elias Cuesta’s caliber joining the team at USA Archery. His accomplishments and reputation are outstanding, and I look forward to teaming up with him to help our athletes reach their full potential. He is well known by our athletes and has a great team focus.”
USA Archery CEO, Rod Menzer, concluded, “We were so honored to have Coach Lee as our National Head Coach for almost 20 years and know that Coach Cuesta can build on that and bring us even more success.
“With so many talented archers, and with us hosting the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games, our new National Head Coach couldn’t be joining us at a more exciting time.”
Coach Cuesta will start at USA Archery in January from Chula Vista, Calif., and coach the Resident Athlete program as well as perform his other duties with the U.S. teams.
< Back to All News
