France selects its six Paralympic archers for Paris 2024
The French Paralympic and Sports Committee has named the six archers who will compete for the host country at the next Paralympic Games from 29 August to 5 September 2024.
Four of them already have an experience at the Games.
Guillaume Toucoullet (Tokyo 2020) and Aziza Benhami make the recurve roster, while Maxime Guérin (Rio 2016), Thierry Joussaume and Julie Rigault Chupin (Tokyo 2020) are the French compound bow forces in attendance.
Damien Letulle is the only French archer competing in the W1 division in Paris this summer, and he is the the outstanding story behind this selection.
The wheelchair athlete will become a Paralympian at home in Paris 2024 after having been an Olympian at the Atlanta 1996 Paralympic Games.
One of the most talented French archers of the 90s will be back at Les Invalides, an emotional place for him, where he spent 18 months in rehabilitation after an unfortunate fall left him a quadriplegic in November 1997.
As the host country, France had one Paralympic quota place in each category and won an additional spot for the compound men’s open division at the World Archery Para Championships in 2023.
To make the French Paralympic squad, the para archers took part in trials held on 27-28 January with seven athletes named for the final world ranking tournament in Dubai in March, before the French archery federation selected six athletes to fill in the official Paralympic quotas.
They have now two major events on their programme ahead of Paris 2024: the European Para Archery Championships in Italy in May and a para world ranking tournament in the Czech Republic in June.
French Paralympic team for Paris 2024
- Recurve men open: Guillaume Toucoullet.
- Recurve women open: Aziza Benhami.
- Compound men open: Maxime Guérin and Thierry Joussaume.
- Compound women open: Julie Rigault Chupin.
- W1 men: Damien Letulle.
