Tabansky bags gold at a Paralympic Games he should have missed

Jason Tabansky reached his career milestone, as he clinched the Paris 2024 Paralympics gold defeating Han Guifei in the W1 men’s final today.

Just nine weeks before the Games, the US archer was not even qualified, but the withdrawal of Australia’s Christopher Davis paved the way for him to compete in Paris and make his Paralympic debut.

The rest is a fairy tale.

“I remember loading my arrow, hooking my release, drawing back, and then screaming,” the 41-year-old said after the gold medal match.

“I don’t remember the shot. All I could think of was to put the pin in the gold and punch this thing, and I did.”

The American athlete was behind after the second and third ends. He fought back, but his second arrow of the last end clustered in a seven-ring only.

This only shot might have denied the effort. But Jason was able to withstand, shot a 10 to close the match and claim a medal he had been hoping for.

Chinese archers Han Guifei and Zhang Tianxin completed the podium.

It was a tough road to the final, including a victory over defending champion David Drahoninsky, but Tabansky went all the way.

“I practised at home four matches every day,” he explained. “That’s all I kept practising.”

“I was shooting against my wife. As long as I was winning, and I was winning in a certain point range, I knew I was going to be good. I just kept doing that for about three weeks.”

The process paid off.

While fitting to begin the final, Jason just recalled what he used to repeat daily at home: “Shot after shot, arrow after arrow.”

When he lined up, he ignored everyone in the stands and visualised that garage in Texas leading to the archery range where he was going to train.

“The wind was just the same. The sun felt the same. Just shoot every arrow one at a time and shoot. Make them count. Make the best shot I  could do, and let the outcome happen.”

Jason only qualified in July for what occurred miraculous and exceptionally emotional Paralympics for him.

“You saw me open that card, and there was a pin of my friend Kyle. He was like a brother to me, and passed away in a helicopter crash in 2020,” describing the story behind his lucky pin.

“He was one of my biggest cheerleaders, one of the most supportive people I’ve ever had in my life. To be able to do this knowing that he always wanted me to win, it’s just...,” Jason could barely find the right words.

“This one is also for Chris Davis,” he said. “I told myself ‘If he sacrificed it, I’m gonna make it count’. I didn’t just want to take a picture to show I was here.”

Jason’s journey to gold in Paris started years earlier in London.

Then a Chinook helicopter mechanic, crewmember and flight instructor for the US Army, just one footstep changed his life permanently. 

“I was in London doing an exposition for the military,” he recalled. “I was coming down an aircraft, and slipped.”

“I really hurt my neck and shoulder. That caused the inflammation of a small infection in my neck. It became big. Over three days it grew, and, eventually, I woke up in my hotel room, paralysed from the neck down.”

Tabansky underwent surgery and started his recovery, where he came across the sport.

A physical therapist at Audie Murphy Veteran’s Hospital in San Antonio, Texas, who did many adapted sports, mentioned archery to him, and it stuck.

“I was a bow hunter before, so he got me involved in archery. I had two friends. They do an air pistol and 25-metre pistol. They helped me get started in archery, and I fell in love with it.”

“That’s all I wanted and all I want to do now.”

After his world collapsed, he found internal strength and a new way of life.

“I was medically retired from the military, so it was the end of what I had known since I was 17.”

“Archery gave me a new purpose. And a reason to do something that I love. I’m so happy that I fell in love with it. And I’m able to do it now.”

Earlier in the day Jason beat the defending champion David Drahoninsky. He somewhat followed a retrospective journey on Sunday in Paris.

“David was the first person that I looked up to when I got classified W1,” Jason explained. “I wanted to be like David. I wanted to shoot like David. I wanted to win like David.”

Over the years, they became friends.

“I just lost to somebody who shot better than me,” said the iconic archer from Czechia. “He is my friend, and I wish him a lot of Xs in the next matches.”

Tabansky had two more matches ahead of him. 

He made Davis’ withdrawal count, fulfilled his late friend’s dreams and won like David. 

“It’s easy to talk about, a lot of people don’t understand the work and the sacrifice that goes into it, not just by the athlete, but by friends and family. When people are out going to movies and doing stuff, I’m at home training, because I want to be the best.”

“I came in here as humble as possible to show people that I belong here. And now I can call myself the best today.”

The archery competition in Paris continues with compound men’s elimination and medal matches on Sunday afternoon. 

Podium: Paris 2024 Paralympic Games

Full results on the event page.

W1 men

1. Jason Tabansky, USA
2. Han Guifei, China
3. Zhang Tianxin, China