Fairfield’s Matt Stutzman, known around the world as “The Armless Archer,” has announced his return to competitive archery with an unprecedented goal — qualifying for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic Games and becoming the first Paralympic Gold Medalist to win an Olympic Gold Medal in archery, according to a press release from USA Archery and a social media post from Stutzman himself.
Stutzman had retired from international para-archery competition after winning his first Paralympic Gold Medal at the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games, where he posted a Paralympic-record score of 149 out of 150 in the men’s individual compound open final. The victory also earned him the distinction of becoming the first Para athlete to be named World Archery’s overall Archer of the Year. Many assumed Paris would be the final chapter of one of the sport’s most remarkable careers.
It will not be.
In a recent social media post, Stutzman broke the news himself. “So now here’s the news — I’m coming back to the archery scene,” he said. “Not to come back as a Paralympic athlete, but I think I’m going to set my sights on what is next, which is trying to see if I can make the LA Games. You have been officially warned that I’m coming back to trials for the 2028 LA Games mixed team compound open.”
The opportunity arose when compound archery was added to the Olympic program for Los Angeles — a discipline in which Stutzman has long been one of the world’s elite competitors. The event will be a mixed-team format featuring one male and one female archer from each qualifying nation, with only 12 compound mixed teams expected to compete at LA28. Stutzman will need to earn the men’s position on the U.S. compound team through USA Archery’s Olympic Trials athlete selection process — meaning he will be competing directly against the leading compound archers in the country and around the world.
According to USA Archery, Stutzman himself acknowledged the magnitude of what he is attempting. “I thought winning gold in Paris was the perfect ending to my career,” Stutzman said. “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.”
He also framed the pursuit as something larger than personal achievement. “This is bigger than coming out of retirement,” Stutzman said. “It is about challenging what people believe is possible. I want young athletes with disabilities to see that they do not have to accept someone else’s definition of their limits. I also want to prove that when I step onto the range, I am not just a great Para archer — I am one of the best archers in the world.”
Born without arms, Stutzman holds and fires his compound bow using his feet and a release mechanism positioned near his shoulder. His Paralympic career spans four Games — London 2012, where he won silver, Rio 2016, Tokyo 2020, and Paris 2024, where he captured gold. According to USA Archery, his return will require him to adapt to the unique demands of mixed-team competition while competing against top compound archers nationally and internationally.
“I understand how difficult this will be,” Stutzman said, according to USA Archery. “Nothing is guaranteed — not qualification, not selection, and certainly not a medal. That is exactly why the challenge means so much to me. Paris proved that the greatest achievements can come after the moments when other people think your career is over.”
USA Archery described the announcement as more than a comeback story, calling it an attempt to challenge what people believe is possible and show the next generation of athletes with disabilities that no one else gets to decide how far they can go.
The LA28 Olympic archery competition is scheduled to take place at Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson, California. Compound mixed-team qualification is scheduled for July 19, 2028, with medal rounds on July 21st. For Stutzman, the opportunity carries an added layer of significance — a chance to compete for an Olympic medal on home soil in front of an American crowd, something no chapter of his Paralympic career has afforded him.
