U.S. Para Archer Jason Tabansky’s Wild Path to Paris Turns Golden

Facing an uphill battle, including a bracket containing the world’s top-ranked Para archers and an errant penultimate arrow during the last end of his gold-medal match, the retired U.S. Army Staff Sergeant locked in for his third and final shot.

Needing just a score of eight to win, he nailed a perfect 10 to secure the top spot on the podium in the men’s individual W1 competition, winning 134-131.

“Honestly I remember loading my arrow, hooking my release, drawing back, and then screaming,” he said of his final shot. “I don’t remember the shot. All I remember was thinking, ‘put the pin in the gold, and let’s punch this thing.

“After that it was just a fountain of emotions that I’ve had going through me for the last seven years.”

When the arrow hit the target, Tabansky took a moment to himself, raised his arms, smiled and pointed to the sky, remembering his faith and his fallen friends and family members.

Tabansky’s win marks the fourth consecutive time an American man has won an individual Para archery medal at a Paralympic Games. Kevin Mather took home a gold medal three years ago in Tokyo, while Andre Shelby and Jeff Fabry won their golds in 2016 and 2012, respectively.

Tabansky’s division, W1, scores slightly different than the Olympic recurve discipline. Instead of winning set points after three arrows, competitors shoot five sets of three arrows each for a total of 15 arrows.

Whichever archer scores the most total points at the end of all 15 arrows is declared the winner.

After earning the sixth seed in the ranking rounds, Tabansky was placed into the toughest bracket in the match. After defeating the second-ranked archer in the world, Brazil’s Eugenio Santana Franco, the Texas native prepared to compete against Czechia’s David Drahoninsky.

Nicknamed “Mr. W1” by television broadcasters, Drahoninsky had never left a Paralympic Games without at least a silver medal hanging around his neck. He won gold in Tokyo, silvers in Rio and London and a gold in Beijing. The latter gold came five years before Tabansky even picked up a bow.

But, that’s the beauty of archery, as Tabansky, who is a lifelong fan of the NFL’s Green Bay Packers, leaned into the NFL’s “any given Sunday” mantra, and took down “Mr. W1,” 139-131.