Preparing for Paris!

After a few months away from the sport, I’ve finally gotten to a space where I feel ready to come back to the track, our Oval Office.

The beauty of things is that our journey to Paris is only a little less than three years away. It’s not the usual four-year journey, given the pandemic pushing Tokyo out an additional year. So, it’ll be here in no time.

Our 2022 world championships were actually scheduled to be back in Tokyo, but they have been canceled. Although there is no major international competition in this calendar year, the goal remains the same, and that is to get back into shape and begin preparation for Paris.

The cool thing is that we will have world championships next year, and guess where those will be held? If you guessed Paris, come on down to get your prize.

Now, we won’t be competing in the Olympic and Paralympic stadium, but having the opportunity to head to France a year in advance means we’ll have the chance to get acclimated to the weather and time zone, before heading back a year later for the big show. That’s a good thing.

You’ll definitely see me on the long jump runway this year, and I’m thinking of even jumping into a few sprint races, no pun intended. I want to ensure my speed is where it needs to be, and running in a few 100m races will help in achieving that goal.

The future is bright! I’m excited to get back out there one more time, to push myself, challenge my abilities, and see just how much farther I can fly.

I hope that you’ll continue to follow my path to Paris. None of this is possible without your support, and I’m grateful and appreciative of that.

So stay tuned, buckle up, and get ready for the ride! I’m going for my sixth Paralympic Games and sixth Paralympic medal.

I know that a lot of people were thinking I might call it quits after Tokyo, but my goal has always been to go to at least 2024. A lot of friends have been telling me, if you compete in Paris, you might as well keep it going to Los Angeles for the 2028 games.

Don’t get me wrong, that sounds incredible and it would be amazing to compete on home soil, but that is also six years away. I’m not getting any younger haha. We’ll just have to see. At this point, I’ve been training and competing for more than half of my life. That’s a long time to be focused on one thing.

I’m not closing the door on the idea because it would be so incredible to call it a career on home turf.  We’ll just have to see what happens after Paris.

Watch out world. I’ve turned my focus to 2024 and I’m totally locked in. I most certainly can’t predict the future, but what I can promise is that I’m going to do my absolute best to make sure the sixth one ends in GOLD.

Let’s go!

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