‘Armless Archer’ Matt Stutzman had a brilliant idea for how to experience the adrenaline he would feel competing in front of sold-out crowds at the 2024 Paralympic Games in Paris.

Shoot an arrow at a target without touching his most prized possession: a Paralympic medal hanging from it.

To “add value to the shot,” the American para archer set up an elaborate maze beforehand. He drove out his expensive race car, removed the doors and parked it in front of the goal. He then hung his London 2012 Paralympic silver medal on the goal, went inside, threw open the front and back doors, walked to the back and shot with his feet.

“I wanted to create adrenaline,” Stutzman explained. “I knew that if I missed, I would put a hole in the house, I would put a hole in my race car that I care about, and most importantly, if I messed up, I would put an arrow in an irreplaceable Paralympic medal. I knew I had to do it right and make it count. And my heart was pounding like, ‘Oh boy.’ It was like, chut chut chut. And then I shot.”

The arrow flew through the house, through the car, to the target. The medal was unharmed.

Relieved, Stutzman cleaned up the scene and safely returned his medal to storage. When his fiancée returned home, he couldn’t resist showing her the video he had taken of the epic shot.

“I said, ‘Sit down, watch this video.’ And she said, ‘Oh my God, you didn’t even get the fire extinguishers out of the car. What if you hit them and they blew up?'” Stutzman said. “And I thought, ‘I have to force myself into a scenario that creates adrenaline and pressure, because backyard shooting is not for me.'”

Adrenaline was a key ingredient in Stutzman’s preparations as he prepared to compete in front of packed stands on the Esplanade des Invalides in Paris. Always looking for new ways to get his heart rate up, the Para archer would practice minutes after jumping out of planes And racing cars with a speed of more than 300 km/h.

His unusual strategy paid off. Stutzman won gold in the Para archery On Sunday 1 September the individual complex was opened, setting a new Paralympic record of 149.

Olympics.com spoke with the Paralympic medalist about his unconventional training methods, his signature ‘armless archer’ technique and the power of visualization before his record-breaking performance.