Day one of the archery at the 2024 Paralympic Games gets underway with GB's Jodie Grinham ranking 4th giving her a bye through the first round of matches.
W1 Open Woman, Victoria Kingstone, shot the first arrows for Great Britain at her debut Paralympics. She finished her qualification in 6th place, scoring a new international PB of 608.
She will face Juliana Ferreira da Silva of Brazil in her first head-to-head round on Saturday 31 August.
Victoria said: "This is the first time she [Silva] has competed outside of the Americas, so we’ve never seen her before. Sometimes that can be a good thing as you have no expectations going into that. We have to take it as it comes and see how it goes on Saturday.
"I'm really, really happy to get a new international PB on the biggest stage. You always want to keep to what you’ve been doing in training but to actually do better is a pleasant surprise. I love competing with the other women. We’re not opponents, we’re friends and everyone celebrates each other."
Next up were the Compound Open Women, Jodie Grinham and Phoebe Paterson Pine. Jodie, who is thought to be the first ParalympicsGB athlete to compete while pregnant, placed in fourth with an international PB of 693, and will have a bye through the first round of the head-to-heads.
Jodie told us: "I wanted to come here, I wanted to compete and shoot well. I didn't want it to come across as a pregnant lady made it to the Paralympics. I wanted it to be, a pregnant lady has gone to the Paralympics as a professional athlete, and she is still world leading and professional. And I feel like that's what I’ve done today."
Jodie in action during the qualification round. Credit: World Archery
For the current reigning champion, Phoebe’s qualification posed its own unique challenges. In the fifth end of shooting, she was stung by a wasp on her release aid finger, which as a compound archer, was not ideal. She was provided care during shooting, but despite the setback, managed to finish in 7th place with an international season best of 688.
Phoebe said: "To be honest, I shot better in my second half, so I don't think it really made that much of a difference. It's painful, it does hurt, but I was able to just focus on my own process and keep myself going regardless.
I'm really proud of myself. I shot a lot better than I did in Tokyo and I think that kind of shows how I've grown as a person and as an athlete over the past three years. Being able to finish out with a really good score as well, I'm super proud of myself."
Phoebe with coach, Andrea Gales. Credit: ParalympicsGB
GB's lone Compound Open Men's archer, Nathan Macqueen, shot an international season best score of 696 to place him in 6th. As as result of his and Jodie's shooting, the pair have ranked in 2nd as a mixed team, giving them a bye through the first round of the head-to-heads.
Nathan commented: “I was so nervous, which is a bit mad because I do this all the time. The Finals Stage will the be biggest crowd that I think any of the paras will have shot in front of, so it's going to be pretty special. And the fact that our families will be out there is pretty cool.”
Nathan shooting his qualification round in Paris. Credit: World Archery
Tomorrow, Phoebe and Nathan will shoot their 1/16 individual matches. Phoebe will shoot at 9:59am BST, and Nathan will shoot at 15:55 BST. Find out how to watch live at home by clicking the link below!
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