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Paralympic gold medalist Matt Stutzman, the armless archer, is ending a two-year retirement to bid for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.
Stutzman, a 43-year-old from Iowa, will try to qualify for the new mixed compound event, where a nation can field a team of one archer per gender. A trials process will determine the U.S. Olympic team.
“I thought winning gold in Paris was the perfect ending to my career,” Stutzman said, according to USA Archery. “But when compound archery was added to the Olympic program for Los Angeles, I realized my story might not be finished. I have the opportunity to attempt something that has never been done before -- and I have to take that shot.”
Olympic archery included recurve events only in the past. Compound makes its debut in 2028 in the form of the mixed-gender team event.
At the 2024 Paris Paralympics, Stutzman became the first armless archer to win gold, recording a Paralympic record score of 149 out of 150 in the men's compound final.
At least four archers have competed in both the Olympics and Paralympics.
The only American to compete in both the Olympics and Paralympics in any sport is track and field athlete Marla Runyan, who did so in 1992 and 1996 (Paralympics) and 2000 and 2004 (Olympics), according to Olympedia.
The top Americans in the men's compound world rankings are No. 12 Stephan Hansen and No. 13 Curtis Broadnax.
Stutzman estimated he's among the top 15 men's compound archers in the U.S.
"But it's still incredibly difficult," he said by phone after Tuesday's announcement. "So I guess I would say I'm still the underdog, just because I think I would say everybody's the underdog. This is probably one of the sports where you can't really say this person's the favorite over the rest of them because the trials process is so long and drawn out over so many months that you pretty much just have to have it. Like it's got to be your day, you know what I mean? It's going to have to be one of those things where you just get on a run and you just roll and it works out for you."
In recurve, there are individual and team events and up to three athletes per gender can make the Olympic team. In Stutzman's compound, the mixed team with one athlete per gender is the lone Olympic event, making the trials process — expected to include a series of competitions in the year before the Games — all the fiercer.
"Looking at the competition right now and just the amount of people, we did the math on it, and I think pretty much everybody has like a 1% chance of making it on rough numbers, which is pretty incredible," he said.
Hometown Hopefuls: Matt Stutzman, Iowa
Throughout the summer, in a series called Hometown Hopefuls, NBC is spotlighting the stories of Olympic and Paralympic hopefuls from all fifty states, as well as Washington, D.C. and Puerto Rico, as they work towards the opportunity to represent their country at the Paris 2024 Games next year.
Continue reading...
Stutzman, a 43-year-old from Iowa, will try to qualify for the new mixed compound event, where a nation can field a team of one archer per gender. A trials process will determine the U.S. Olympic team.
“I thought winning gold in Paris was the perfect ending to my career,” Stutzman said, according to USA Archery. “But when compound archery was added to the Olympic program for Los Angeles, I realized my story might not be finished. I have the opportunity to attempt something that has never been done before -- and I have to take that shot.”
Olympic archery included recurve events only in the past. Compound makes its debut in 2028 in the form of the mixed-gender team event.
At the 2024 Paris Paralympics, Stutzman became the first armless archer to win gold, recording a Paralympic record score of 149 out of 150 in the men's compound final.
At least four archers have competed in both the Olympics and Paralympics.
The only American to compete in both the Olympics and Paralympics in any sport is track and field athlete Marla Runyan, who did so in 1992 and 1996 (Paralympics) and 2000 and 2004 (Olympics), according to Olympedia.
The top Americans in the men's compound world rankings are No. 12 Stephan Hansen and No. 13 Curtis Broadnax.
Stutzman estimated he's among the top 15 men's compound archers in the U.S.
"But it's still incredibly difficult," he said by phone after Tuesday's announcement. "So I guess I would say I'm still the underdog, just because I think I would say everybody's the underdog. This is probably one of the sports where you can't really say this person's the favorite over the rest of them because the trials process is so long and drawn out over so many months that you pretty much just have to have it. Like it's got to be your day, you know what I mean? It's going to have to be one of those things where you just get on a run and you just roll and it works out for you."
In recurve, there are individual and team events and up to three athletes per gender can make the Olympic team. In Stutzman's compound, the mixed team with one athlete per gender is the lone Olympic event, making the trials process — expected to include a series of competitions in the year before the Games — all the fiercer.
"Looking at the competition right now and just the amount of people, we did the math on it, and I think pretty much everybody has like a 1% chance of making it on rough numbers, which is pretty incredible," he said.
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Hometown Hopefuls: Matt Stutzman, Iowa
Throughout the summer, in a series called Hometown Hopefuls, NBC is spotlighting the stories of Olympic and Paralympic hopefuls from all fifty states, as well as Washington, D.C. and Puerto Rico, as they work towards the opportunity to represent their country at the Paris 2024 Games next year.
Continue reading...
