From Visualization To The Olympics: Casey Kaufhold Reflects On Winning Bronze Medal In Archery During Paris Games
One more good shot.
As Casey Kaufhold prepared her final set and steadied her bow arm, she knew one more good shot is what it would take to earn an Olympic medal in archery.
“As soon as I let that arrow go, I was there,” the 20-year-old archer said. “In that moment, we knew we won, and all of this raw emotion just came pouring out. It was very exciting.”
The Lancaster, Pennsylvania, native took home the bronze medal on Aug. 2 with her partner Brady Ellison in the archery mixed-team event in Paris. She made history as the first American woman to medal in archery since the Seoul Olympic Games in 1988.
Kaufhold was also a student in the Visualization program, coming to Texas A&M in 2022 before taking a year off to train for the Olympics.
After hitting the target in Paris, Kaufhold roared with pride and hugged Ellison, a five-time Olympic medalist with whom she’s trained for the past five years. Overcome with emotion, Kaufhold pounded her fist and tearfully looked to the crowd as they cheered.
“I remember hugging Brady, yelling, holding my bow up and later congratulating my opponent,” the Olympian said. “I watched the replay an hour or two later, thinking, ‘Oh my gosh, we are going crazy.’ And in the moment, it didn’t feel like that. But it was so cool to see because that wasn’t planned, it wasn’t rehearsed. That was the emotion that came out.”
Making Her Mark
Kaufhold shot her first arrow at age 3, thanks to the guidance of her parents, Rob and Carole, who are longtime archery advocates and owners of Lancaster Archery Supply in Pennsylvania. Gymnastics was also an early interest, but an injury prevented her from competing. She shifted back to archery when she was 8, and began dreaming of the Olympics just four years later.
She would watch the older kids who were more advanced in the sport shoot at her parents’ club, Lancaster Archery Academy. This served as motivation as she trained, and she was able to meet and work with Olympians including Ellison, Mackenzie Brown and Khatuna Lorig.
“That was kind of where things started to change for me, and I wanted to try for the Olympics,” she said.
Kaufhold competed throughout high school, and had to balance online classes with her training. By age 19, she became the first American woman to reach the top of the Sanlida World Archery rankings. She held the world’s top women’s archer ranking on and off for over a year.
Not long after she hit the top spot, she chose to study at Texas A&M in 2022. Her initial draw was the Texas A&M Archery Team. With 23 national championships since 1996, the student organization is one of the country’s best collegiate teams.
A bonus: Her older brother, Conner — a senior Computer Science major — is on the team.
“Even though it was far from home, I knew I had to be at a school where I could practice archery,” she said. “I was so glad I had my brother there and I made connections with the team.”
Conner Kaufhold said his sister’s experience helped their teammates train and compete at a higher level.
“I hope she keeps with it while she is in her prime,” he said. “Over the next two Olympic Games, she has the potential to do much more than the bronze medal she has so far and get many more medals and golds in the future. I am looking forward to being there to watch it all happen for her.”
Lorinda Gomez, the team coach, describes Kaufhold as a driven teammate with a champion mindset, who also encourages other athletes.
“Casey wants to be the best, yet she is very caring and willing to help others — especially when it came to her teammates,” Gomez said. “Her hunger to do well will only increase over the years, and I’m sure we will see a lot more Olympic medals in her future.”
Kaufhold studied graphic design in the Visualization program, enjoying courses in design and animation and exploring art through class projects. One of her favorite assignments was designing a movie poster, which had to reflect the film’s plot. Thinking outside the box was encouraged, which she said she appreciates.
“I loved how creative I could be in the major,” she said. “I am somebody who has a lot of ideas, a lot of creativity, and I love putting that into something. Having these different projects where there were guidelines — but in a way, you had free rein to put your own creative ideas into it. That was something I really loved about the program.”
‘I Dreamed Of That Moment’
Kaufhold made her first Olympic appearance at the Tokyo Games in 2020, where she reached the second round in the individual competition and the quarterfinals in the mixed-team event. She recalled her experience as “very quiet and very different” from what she expected.
“The constraints were pretty stern since it was during the pandemic,” she said. “I learned a lot about trusting myself, and I feel that I applied that to my shooting in Paris.”
Kaufhold made time to enjoy Paris this summer. In preparation, she had her fingernails painted blue to match the accent color of her bow, and added the Olympic rings on one nail. She also did some sightseeing, visiting the Eiffel Tower with her family and friends. There’s even a photo on her Instagram page sharing a huge croissant with her teammates.
After securing the bronze medal — the nation’s first in mixed-team archery — Kaufhold spotted her family in the crowd for the first time, waving American flags and jumping with excitement.
“I dreamed of that moment for so long, and it was great to experience all that emotion with them,” she said.
Kaufhold’s post-Olympics competition includes a gold medal in women’s recurve in the U.S. Open in Lubbock. She is now a seven-time national outdoor champion.
“It’s been hard to stay focused after coming off the high from Paris,” she said on Instagram. “I wanted to keep my national win streak going, so I pushed through some tough wind and fatigue. So happy to end the season on a good note!”
Kaufhold’s plans for the immediate future are to build on her momentum from the Paris Games. She is training in Lancaster with an eye toward the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles. Kaufhold said she hopes to give back to the sport, and is grateful to be seen as a role model and inspiration for young athletes.
“I think it is really important to have good sportsmanship and take the time to meet fans, or trade pins with little kids, because it really makes a difference,” she said. “I enjoy seeing people get excited about meeting their inspirations, so it is an honor to be considered that.”
Kaufhold said it’s a relief to know she is officially an Olympic medalist — a title she can forever hold onto.
“It has been a goal of mine for so long,” she said. “Now that I have accomplished it, I feel that it will open the door for me to focus on earning more medals.”
Top photo of Casey Kaufhold by Alex Pantling/Getty Images.
