Jason Tabansky reached his career milestone, as he clinched the Paris 2024 Paralympics gold. The 41-year-old archer of the USA defeated China's Han Guifei 134-131 in the W1 men's final.
Only nine weeks ahead of the Games, he wasn't even qualified for the Games. Only the withdrawal of Australia's Chris Davis opened his door to compete in Paris and make the Paralympic debut.
It wasn't lost on Jason Tabansky how he ended up getting his shot at Paralympic competition. The Army veteran picked up a quota by being the highest non-qualifier in the world rankings (No. 3) after Australian Christopher Davis withdrew with an injury two months before the start of the 2024 Games. But Tabansky wasn't just happy to be at the Invalides on Sunday — the 41-year-old wanted to go home with it all. And that's what he did in his Paralympic debut, navigating the field in the knockout rounds to come out with gold in the men's individual W1 archery competition. Tabansky sealed the Paralympic title with a 134-131 victory over China’s Han Guifei in the gold-medal match.
“I always told myself if he sacrificed his spot, I’m going to make it count,” Tabansky said of Davis. “It’s going to be for something. It’s not going to be just I got a slot and I’m going to go and take a picture and say that I’ve been here.
“I was here to perform and thankful to God I was able to make it all the way to the end and have a gold medal around my neck.”
Davis wasn’t the only person on Tabansky’s mind as he received his medal on Sunday afternoon. The former Army staff sergeant, who joined the service in August 2001 and spent his 15-year military career as a Chinook helicopter mechanic, crew member and flight instructor, thought of his grandfather and his other friends who have died as he looked to the heavens. He especially thought of Army Staff Sgt. Kyle McKee, a friend from Painesville, Ohio, whom Tabansky called a brother. McKee died in a helicopter crash in Egypt on Nov. 12, 2020.
“(McKee) was one of my biggest cheerleaders, one of the most important people I’ve had in my life,” Tabansky said. “To be able to do this and know that he always wanted me to win this and be here, this is for all of them.”
Considering his path to gold, it’s easy to see why he believed he had help from above. Coming in as the sixth seed after the preliminaries, Tabansky faced a who’s who in the W1 category of men’s para archery. First up was Eugenio Santana Franco of Brazil, the world’s No. 2. Tabansky led from start to finish to win 137-122. In the quarterfinals, he squared off with an archer who left his mark on the sport, David Drahoninsky. The Czech had won two gold and two silver medals in events spanning four different Games. Yet, Tabansky got stronger as the match went along against his more accomplished foe — a theme for the Brownsville, Texas, native on the day. Tied after the first two ends, Tabanksy produced scores of 30, 29 and 28 to pull away 139-131. Then came a semifinal matchup with Italy’s Paolo Tonon, whom he dispatched 136-115. “I had somebody call me and say, ‘Hey, your bracket is actually the easiest path to gold, but you have the hardest opponents,’” Tabansky said. “I knew in my head that all I had to do was shoot my four matches the way I shoot at home.”
The last match was perhaps the toughest in Han, the top-ranked para archer in the world. Both went back and forth throughout, until with two shots remaining, Tabansky enjoyed a two-point advantage. Then, he shot a 7, giving Han a chance. The Chinese archer pulled within one by putting an 8 on the board. Tabansky went first on the final attempt, and he put to bed any chance of Han coming back with a 10. “I don’t remember the (last) shot. All I can think of is, ‘Put the pin in the gold and punch this thing.’ And I did. I punched it harder than (American archer and former world champion) Jimmy Lutz.”
Tabansky, who suffered a spinal cord injury in September 2015 after falling during a Chinook helicopter demonstration in London, doesn’t have much time to celebrate. He and Tracy Otto begin their quest for a medal in the mixed team competition as the sixth seed on Monday. The Americans open in the quarterfinals against Italians Daila Dameno and Tonon. The match begins at 9:20 a.m. Central European Time, with the semifinals and medal matches following that morning. “I’m going to take some time to let this soak in, and after that, we’re going to go give it everything we’ve got,” Tabansky said.
The Road to Gold
U.S. Paralympic archer Jason Tabansky did not know he was going to compete at the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games until late June. Now, the first-time Paralympian is also a gold medalist. 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.
Relative to his quarterfinal match, Tabansky breezed through his semifinal, defeating Italy’s Paolo Tonon, 136-115, setting up a gold medal match against the current top-ranked W1 archer in the world, China’s Han Guifei.
Tabanksy remained calm throughout the match, but trailed slightly heading into the fourth set, 81-79. Then, he flipped the script, firing two nines to open set four, and capping it with a 10. Tabansky opened the final set with an “X,” or the dead center of the 10-point circle. However, the gap closed when his second arrow flew high and scored a seven.
“I was like, ‘holy crap, I popped that up! Now we kept it interesting. We’re giving these people a show,’” he explained of his errant shot, which scored a seven. “Then, I looked at (coach Jonathan Clemins) and let him know it was my fault. I don’t need to fix my sight.”
Guifei fired an eight on his final arrow, leaving Tabansky with a small window of opportunity. The savvy newcomer took it, adjusted his release, and fired his golden 10.
A Second Chance
When Tabansky did not qualify for Paris 2024 during the 2024 U.S. Paralympic Team Trials for Archery in May, he was crushed. He’d assumed he had to wait another four years to try again. That was until he received a call while competing at another Para archery world ranking event in Czechia. 2023 world champion Christopher Davis of Australia had sustained an injury requiring surgery, opening up a slot for another archer.
A frenzy of training, planning and packing began as he learned he would be making his Paralympic debut in Paris. His massive support system, including USA Archery and his wife, Courtney Brassard, who also competes in archery tournaments.
“I practiced at home, four matches every day against my wife,” he said. “As long as I was winning and shooting within a certain point range, I knew I was going to be good…I knew all I had to do was shoot my four matches the same way I did at home.
“When I lined up on the line, I blocked out everybody that was in the stands and just visualized that garage in Boerne, Texas, where I would shoot. The wind was just the same, and the sun felt the same.”
Gratitude and Reflection
Given his unconventional path to Paris, Tabansky mentioned that leaning on the veterans of U.S. Para archery who are in Paris, such as Matt Stutzman and Eric Bennett. “Those guys are just a fountain of knowledge,” he said. “When you talk about support, they have always been there for me.” Tabansky also noted that he and KJ Polish, his Paralympic village roommate, have become close friends and call to check up on each other frequently.
Before interviews concluded, Tabansky also credited Davis, whom he knows very well, as Para archery contains a small pool of athletes that compete against each other around the world. “This one is for Chris Davis as well,” he said. “He got hurt and wasn’t able to be here. But, I always told myself if he sacrificed his spot, then I’m going to make it count. It’s going to be for something.”
Tabanksy is not done in Paris, as he is lined up to compete alongside Tracy Otto in the mixed team event, which takes place on Sept. 2. “I’m going to take some time to let this soak in,” he said. “Then, after that we’ll go give it everything we’ve got.”
From Tragedy to Triumph
Jason's journey to gold in Paris started years earlier, in fact, in London. One step changed his life permanently. He was a Chinook helicopter mechanic, crewmember and flight instructor for the US military. “I was in London doing an exposition for the military. I was coming down an aircraft, and slipped,” he recalled. “I really hurt my neck and shoulder. That caused the inflammation of a small infection in my neck. It became big. Over three days it grew, and, eventually, I woke up in my hotel room, paralyzed from the neck down.”
Tabansky underwent surgery and started his recovery. And there he came across archery. “I was at the Audie Murphy Veteran's Hospital in San Antonio, Texas. I met a physical therapist who did many adaptive sports. He mentioned archery to me, and that stuck.” “I was a bow hunter before, so he got me involved in archery. I had two friends. They do an air pistol and 25-meter pistol. They helped me get started in archery, and I fell in love with it.” “That's all I wanted and all I want to do now.”
Initially, his world collapsed, but he found internal strength and a new way of life. “I was medically retired from the military, so it was the end of what I had known since I was 17.” “Archery gave me a new purpose. And a reason to do something that I love. Yeah, I'm so happy that I fell in love with it. And I'm able to do it now.”
Earlier in the day Jason beat the defending champion David Drahoninsky. He somewhat followed a retrospective journey on Sunday in Paris. “David was the first person that I looked up to when I got classified W1,” Jason claimed. “I wanted to be like David. I wanted to shoot like David. I wanted to win like David.”
Over the years, they became friends. “I just lost to somebody who shot better than me. He is my friend, and I wish him a lot of Xs in the next matches,” said the iconic Czech para-archer. Tabansky had two more matches ahead of him. And he made Davis' withdrawal count. He made his passed-away friend's dreams come true. And he won like David.
Determination and Grit
“It's easy to talk about, a lot of people don't understand the work and the sacrifice that goes into it, not just by the athlete, but by friends and family. When people are out going to movies and doing stuff, I'm at home training, because I want to be the best.” “I came in here as humble as possible to show people that I belong here. And now I can call myself the best today.”
Silver and bronze in W1 men's went to China's Han Guifei and Zhang Tianxin. The competition in Paris continues with compound men's elimination and medal matches on Sunday afternoon. Full results on the event page.
