Paris 2024 Paralympics: Team USA’s Matt Stutzman, 'The Armless Archer,' wins gold and sets a new Paralympic record
Team USA’s Matt Stutzman shot the arrows of his life to win gold in the Para archery men's individual compound open event, setting a new Paralympic record (for the elimination rounds) of 149 points at the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games.
The 5-end final saw Stutzman meet the People’s Republic of China’s Ai Xinliang, the bronze medallist from Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games. Both archers swapped perfect 30 points ends, with a tied score after the first end.
Ai led by one point after the second end, but Stutzman came back with a flawless performance in the third end to even out the score as Ai dropped one point. The fourth end saw Ai falter with Stutzman putting up another perfect score.
Stutzman entered the fifth and final end in the lead one point up on Ai. As the final three arrows were shot, Stutzman kept his lead and improved it to finish with a new Paralympic record score of 149 over Ai at 147 to win gold, with Ai taking silver and teamate He Zihao taking the bronze.
Stutzman delivered incredible performances throughout these Paralympic Games, including shooting a perfect shot to advance over Finland’s Jere Forsberg, along with a thrilling semi-final match where he defeated the defending gold medallist, He Zihao, from the People Republic of China in a one arrow shoot-off, to meet the China’s Ai Xinliang in the finals.
This remarkable win comes twelve years after Stutzman won his first medal at the Paralympic Games—a silver medal at London 2012.
"It hasn’t sunk in yet, to be honest," said Stutzman after winning a gold medal in his final Paralympic Games. "I knew going into this it was going to be my last Games, so there's a lot of emotion, and I didn't expect this medal, to be honest."
Gold medalist, Matt Stutzman of Team United States (C), Silver medalist, Xinlinang Ai of Team People's Republic of China (L) and Bronze medalist, Zihao He also of China, (R) poses for a photo with his gold medal after the Men's Individual Compound Open Gold Medal Match on day four of the Paris 2024 Summer Paralympic Games at Esplanade Des Invalides on September 01, 2024 in Paris, France.
Four-time Paralympian Stutzman confirms that these will be his final Games
The 41-year-old Para archer from Iowa takes a final bow at these Paralympic Games during the pinnacle of his career. He leaves behind an unmatched legacy in his groundbreaking advancement of Para archery.
Following his Paris 2024 gold medal win, Stutzman shared the effect Para archery has had on his life. "It changed my life completely. I went from not figuring out how I was going to put food on the table for my family to winning medals and taking care of my family."
Stutzman’s legacy as the 'armless archer' was on display at these Games, "My first match was against an armless archer who I was mentoring, and this is the first time in the Paralympics that two armless archers shot against each other. That was amazing and history.
"I'm not sad, because there are amazing armless archers that are going to carry on this tradition," continued Stutzman. "I will always be around, and I will still be supporting and helping and getting them to achieve what I feel and achieve. It's their turn to shine."
In an interview with broadcaster NBC, Stutzman said that he "left the bow and gave it a bow and said 'I'm done.'" He adds that as soon as he left the stage he "cried like crazy." He also shared the importance of having his family in attendance including his three sons. Saying he could hear his family cheering over the roars of the crowd, proclaiming, "this is for them."