Armless archer Stutzman makes history, caps career with long-awaited Paralympic gold

After years of attempts, the legendary Matt Stutzman won his first Paralympic gold medal at his fourth Games.

The first archer to shoot a bow with his feet at London 2012 – finishing with silver – has now become the first armless Paralympic Archery Champion twelve years on. 

He survived two shoot-offs to reach Sunday’s final at Paris 2024 and beat top seed Ai Xinliang to claim gold with an exceptional score of 149 – one point short of perfection – a new Paralympic record.

“Those were the best matches of my life in front of TV,” he claimed honestly. “I’ve shot a couple of 150s at home, but for sure, the best matches of my life.”

“You don’t get pressure at home. You don’t get the best in the world at home. You don’t get an 8000 stadium full of people at home. So, without a doubt, the best I’ve ever shot.”

The crowd loved him, and he loved the crowd.

In front of his family and a huge crowd, Stutzman showed his top archery. Each duel was meaningful, dramatic and even symbolic.

“It’s definitely a book story,” he said. “And I’ll have more time to process it after a couple of days. But yes, it is. I don’t think I could script it any better.”

The story he wrote isn’t short of anything. 

Matt opened his campaign today shooting against Finland’s Jere Forsberg in a rematch of the London 2012 final. This time the 41-year-old prevailed, in a shoot-off where he clustered his arrow straight into the middle of the target.

Stutzman was paving his way towards the moment of his lifetime.

He then beat Nathan MacQueen by one point in the quarterfinals and China’s He Zihao in the semis – with another perfect tie-break – bagging his second career Paralympic medal.

The two finalists produced close-to-perfect performances.

Despite scoring 148 out of 150, China’s Ai had to concede defeat to Stutzman’s 149, new Paralympic record.

“When he shot his last arrow, I knew I was going to hit a 10,” Matt claimed afterwards.

And he did. He shot a 10 to clinch his first Paralympic title. 

“I just don’t know. That little birdie said, ‘hey, you’re here now. It’s your time. You’ve been practising it forever. You got your family here to watch’.”

The crowd cheered, and he celebrated in his manner – jumping, shouting, running across the stage.

“In the last four years, I never thought once about winning a gold medal,” he said. 

And indeed, two hours earlier, he was nearly out, but his last arrow got upgraded from a nine to a 10 to set a shoot-off he would win in style.

His family watched him reach the top, and Hollywood star Jackie Chan described him as “amazing”.

Everything was aligned to make Matt’s farewell Paralympics memorable. And memories were what he wanted.

“It was about having fun and making memories. It’s a pretty good memory, yeah?,” smiled Matt, having a glimpse at the medal around his neck.

“I didn't want to add that pressure of winning a medal. I wanted to come here and enjoy Paris at my last Games with my family. And the memories are what drove me to practice. It wasn't because I was going here to win a medal,” he explained.

He collected the best memories of his life – and a gold medal – what made him emotional standing on the podium and listening to the national anthem.

“When I first walked out for my first match, I really had to fight back the tears of just being able to perform in front of my family and having them cheer, knowing they had my back no matter what happened.”

“I couldn’t believe I was there. I couldn’t believe that the mental preparations and having my family worked out. And I couldn’t believe I beat Chinese archers, because they were so strong.”

This Sunday, Matt Stutzman ended his career – or so he says.

He has built a monument for himself, but his legacy is much broader than the medal he won in Paris.

“There’re more armless archers involved in this sport now,” he said. “You can take away all my medals, and I wouldn’t care, because that would be my medal.”

“Do you know how many people are here shooting and feeling what I felt when I first started shooting?”

“It’s not about winning the medals. It’s about the fact that they’re competing against people. They’re winning.”

“They’re getting this feeling of joy and excitement,” concluded the new Paralympic Archery Champion.

Competition in Paris continues with W1 and compound mixed team elimination and medal matches on Monday.

Podium: Paris 2024 Paralympic Games

Full results on the event page.

Compound men

1. Matt Stutzman, USA
2. Ai Xinliang, China
3. He Zihao, China