Paralympic gold medallist MacQueen ready to compete against able-bodied archers
ATHLETE SPOTLIGHT is presented by WIAWIS.
Recently retired para pioneer Matt Stutzman said earlier this year that as an armless archer, competing and winning against archers with arms made him feel “powerful”.
Now, Great Britain’s Nathan MacQueen, who’s just been awarded with royal honours along with Jodie Grinham, wants to get the same sensation against able-bodied competitors to push himself as an athlete after years as a paraplegic due to a motorbike crash he endured in his teen years.
This is something the 33-year-old wants to do not only to help raise his own level, but also, like Stutzman, to aspire for a respectable equality.
“As someone that’s in a wheelchair, people look at you a bit differently, so to be able to compete and either give them a good run for their money or beat them it takes away any of those boundaries almost,” said MacQueen. “You’re on a level playing field with 15 arrows, it doesn’t matter that you’re in a chair.”
Should he do it, 2025 will not be the first time MacQueen competes on the able-bodied scene, however.
The compounder has previously competed in the Lilleshall 2023 European Grand Prix and the Hyundai Archery World Cup, the sport’s premier international circuit, at Shanghai 2017 and Lausanne 2021.
In the latter, Nathan was in touching distance of a medal having made it to the mixed team bronze final with Jessica Stretton, but the British duo fell just short against USA’s Linda Ochoa-Anderson and Braden Gellenthien by one point, something he called a “pinch yourself moment.”
The West Lothian resident won a leg of Great Britain’s National Series last year, beating able-bodied archers such as Duncan Busby, Neil Bridgewater and 2010 Commonwealth Games silver medallist Chris White in the final, further proving he is no slouch in this field.
“I’ve been in the para circuit for quite a while now since 2015, so it’s become like I know everyone, I know what people are capable of, I know that I’ve come against this person.“
“Nothing’s guaranteed then, but you know there’s going to be a bit of an easier match potentially. I want to push myself against able bodied archers because the standard is just that wee bit higher.“
The 2023 European Champion‘s ambitions could not be coming off a more momentous occasion than the compound mixed team Paralympic gold, the mixed double event being one he has won an international medal in every year since 2018.
“I would love to try and push for the World Cup spots but I need to be realistic as well,” added MacQueen, who trains in his very own padded out shipping container outside Edinburgh when not at Great Britain’s archery centre in Lilleshall. “There’s a lot of talent in the UK at the moment, so if I can mingle with them, I’ll be quite happy.”
The para man’s feat was far less under the public microscope though than his teammate Jodie Grinham who won it, and the individual compound women’s bronze, becoming the first pregnant Paralympian to podium in history.
Understandably, Grinham grabbed the attention of worldwide media with this record breaking performance, therefore leaving MacQueen not quite as much under the spotlight.
“I’m not sure I could have dealt with it as well as she did,” admitted Nathan, who battled with a chest infection two weeks out from action at Les Invalides.
“It’d be nice to have a wee bit more now but at the time, I was quite grateful that I wasn’t getting as much attention, and I could just focus on what I had to do and enjoy the good job of dealing with both.”
“I wouldn’t say it helped or hindered. The media are always going to latch on to something that’s a bit interesting, aren’t they?”
Four months on from Paris and Nathan has reaped the rewards from the intense training a Paralympic year brings.
Following a six-week absence from his bow to recharge with his child and wife Tara, the person who inspired him to turn to archery after struggling to adapt to wheelchair basketball and weightlifting, he was invited to Buckingham Palace in London to meet King Charles and Princess Anne along with Great Britain’s other Paralympic medallists in an event to celebrate their success.
It turned out to be a “mad” evening for the Scot as he even revealed he missed the King’s hand at first when he initially reached out to shake it such were his nerves.
This evening in November, being reminded of this highest of accolades, has given MacQueen the sense of fulfilment for now but he still has his eyes peeled on the Gwangju 2025 World Archery Para Championships.
He will be hoping to go one better since winning world silver in Pilsen, Czech Republic two years ago and climb to the summit of the compound men’s open podium.
MacQueen called 2023 his best season ever, and if he can replicate just a little bit of that success in the able-bodied field next season, he will certainly be one of the favourites for Korea next September.
“I might not medal, I might not win anything, but I’ll have to push myself more to try and achieve there.”
