In Dubai, at the 2022 World Archery Para Championships, the USA’s Matt Stutzman finally took an individual world title – the highlight of a high profile career.
The ‘Armless Archer’ had taken a world championship gold before, in the team event in 2015, and grabbed a individual bronze last time out, in 2019, when his teammate Ben Thompson took the compound open title. Exactly a decade on from his breakout Paralympic silver in 2012, he fulfilled a career-long dream, beating Aleksandr Gombozhapov, 142-137, in the final.
Stutzman led throughout, and was confident enough to shout “you’re witnessing history, guys!” to the assembled crowd of supporters after just two ends. But his run was almost derailed in qualification, when an equipment failure saw him qualify in a lowly 54th place.
However,…