The West Lothian resident won a leg of Great Britain’s National Series last year, beating able-bodied archers such as Duncan Busby, Neil Bridgewater and 2010 Commonwealth Games silver medallist Chris White in the final, further proving he is no slouch in this field.
“I’ve been in the para circuit for quite a while now since 2015, so it’s become like I know everyone, I know what people are capable of, I know that I’ve come against this person.“
“Nothing’s guaranteed then, but you know there’s going to be a bit of an easier match potentially. I want to push myself against able bodied archers because the standard is just that wee bit higher.“
The 2023 European Champion‘s ambitions could not be coming off a more momentous occasion than the compound mixed team Paralympic gold, the mixed double event being one he has won an international medal in every year since 2018.
“I would love to try and push for the World Cup spots but I need to be realistic as well,” added MacQueen, who trains in his very own padded out shipping container outside Edinburgh when not at Great Britain’s archery centre in Lilleshall. “There’s a lot of talent in the UK at the moment, so if I can mingle with them, I’ll be quite happy.”
The para man’s feat was far less under the public microscope though than his teammate Jodie Grinham who won it, and the individual compound women’s bronze, becoming the first pregnant Paralympian to podium in history.
Understandably, Grinham grabbed the attention of worldwide media with this record breaking performance, therefore leaving MacQueen not quite as much under the spotlight.
“I’m not sure I could have dealt with it as well as she did,” admitted Nathan, who battled with a chest infection two weeks out from action at Les Invalides.
“It’d be nice to have a wee bit more now but at the time, I was quite grateful that I wasn’t getting as much attention, and I could just focus on what I had to do and enjoy the good job of dealing with both.”
