Paralympians who are in the "form of their life" and two first timers are among the six Para athletics competitors who have secured their place for Tokyo.
L-R: Anna Grimaldi, Danielle Aitchison, William Stedman, Lisa Adams, Holly Robinson and Caitlin Dore at the announcement of selected Para athletes for the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games Photo: PHOTOSPORT
Holly Robinson, Caitlin Dore, Anna Grimaldi, William Stedman, Lisa Adams and Danielle Aitchison have been named in the New Zealand Paralympic team.
Adams who will compete in the F37 shot put and Hamilton sprinter Aitchison who will compete in the T36 100m and 200m will make their Paralympics debut in Japan.
Adams, who has cerebral palsy, is coached by her sister Dame Valerie Adams who is also headed to Tokyo to compete in the Olympic shot put for a fifth time.
Rotorua-based Lisa Adams said the geographical distance between their training programmes, with Dame Valerie making the move to Christchurch this year, isn't an issue because they speak daily.
"We have a plan and it works, we train in different islands - sissy trains in the South Island and I train North Island - but we make it work, we communicate every day," she said.
"I'm keen to do anything as long as I can still have her as my coach and it's so great to be able to work together. Honestly it's the best thing ever being trained by her, she's so amazing.
"We just hash out a plan and then hustle, work hard and I think our progress has proved that it works."
Lisa Adams won't watch Dame Valerie compete live in Tokyo, because she will be deep in her own training, but the sisters hoped to be together at the Paralympics which run after the Olympics are completed.
"That's our plan, that's our hope because I do follow in after her, nothing's confirmed yet but ideally we will be together."
Lisa Adams (right) with her older sister Dame Valerie Adams. Photo: Photosport
Adding another Adams to New Zealand's Paralympic and Olympic history is special but also par for the course.
"My family are very supportive, we have a family full of athletes anyway so it's not normal but it's what we do and what we're trying to do so it's pretty good."
Lisa Adams has only been involved in Para athletics since 2018 so the delay of the Paralympics worked in her favour.
The Tokyo Paralympics will be her second black singlet event.
She made her international debut 18 months after first getting into the sport and made fast progress.
After breaking her own world record distance several times in 2019 and winning the gold medal at the World Para Athletics Championships, the Lake City Athletic Club competitor had a tough 2020, especially during the Covid-19 lockdown.
Unable to train as she normally would, her body and strength changed.
Shot put Para athlete Lisa Adams of Rotorua. Photo: PHOTOSPORT
"Not having access to the gym meant I could only train at home, I don't have gym equipment at home to train so the physical changes, I dropped muscle, dropped weight, that's not what I wanted to do but that's what ended up happening.
"I still trained at home every day, I got really fit but I lost heaps of muscle so when I finally got access to the gym I had to mentally wrap my head around how different my body in terms of strength was because I'd gotten weaker and I was like 'why can't I lift this anymore' so that's what surprised me the most was the physical changes."
But now that New Zealand has opened up, she has been back training hard.
With only 95 days until the Paralympics Lisa Adams said the focus would now be on preparing for the heat of Tokyo with training and competing in Australia in June.
While two Para athletics athletes will make their Paralympics debut their teammates will arrive in Tokyo with experience.
Anna Grimaldi, the 2016 gold medallist in the long jump T47, believed she was now in the form of her life.
The Dunedin-based athlete knew more than most that how an athlete performs on competition day is crucial.
"It is just what happens on the day, I could be jumping seven metres here but if I can't do it on the day it doesn't actually matter. That's what happened in Rio, I was definitely not the best in the field on paper but I had the best jump on the day and that's what it ultimately comes down to."
Being the defending gold medallist is a "scary" and "exciting" prospect.
"It's going to be a crazy experience. I've not been in this situation where I've felt ready to compete and also been a previous gold medallist. The world champs after Rio I had a broken foot and I didn't know so I was really not ready or in my best form but I feel like I'm in the form of my life.
"[I've] had a great season domestically this year and I'm really looking forward to going overseas to take in that atmosphere and excitement of the event to hopefully push me further."
Grimaldi has missed not competing internationally and has kept an eye on what others were up to.
"You care what your competitors are doing but not a lot have competed yet, a few bigger competitions like European champs are soon and the US trials, so they'll bring out a few more competitors. At the moment the rankings are looking a little bit dry just from Covid and a lack of competitions so hopefully they'll come out of the woodwork soon so we know where we sit."
However, Grimaldi planned to stay in New Zealand to prepare for the Paralympics.
"We don't need to risk it and go overseas and do anything. We've got great competitors here, I've got great training partners and a great coach [Brent Ward], people to support me so we're in the best place we can be."
She knows once she arrives in Tokyo it will be very different.
"There will be way more precautions which are things we're not necessarily used to here in New Zealand, wearing masks, social distancing all the time and I'm going to have to start practising that sort of stuff soon.
"But I just think we are all really grateful that it is going ahead and our last five years [of athletic progress] we can put on the world stage rather than just keep them secret in New Zealand."
Javelin Paralympian Holly Robinson of Dunedin. Photo: © Andrew Cornaga / Photosport Ltd 2021 www.photosport.nz
Also going from Dunedin to Tokyo will be Holly Robinson, for her third Paralympics.
In March Robinson wrote herself into the record books when she won a medal in an open event at the New Zealand Track and Field Championships with a silver in the javelin.
Robinson has a single limb deficiency and will compete in the F46 javelin in Tokyo, the event she claimed a silver medal in at the last Paralympics.
No two Paralympics are the same, Robinson said, but she was ready for Tokyo - especially after the delay due to Covid-19.
"I went to London in 2012 where I was still a young schoolgirl and then I went to Rio in 2016 where I was the flag bearer, so both were very different and you gain from those experiences and I know going to Tokyo, I know what to expect and I know what I need to do if I want to get on that podium and it will be very different this Games because of Covid but having those past experiences under my belt are going to help me a lot."
For all the uncertainty and possible disruption to normal competition routines that the Tokyo Paralympics could throw up, Robinson hoped for some consistency when the coaching team for the Games was announced.
"I'm hoping my coach Raylene [Bates] will be there with me, she's been to two with me before and we've been together 10 years now so that relationship is quite tight."
A finger injury mid-season disrupted Robinson's build-up but she finished the domestic season strongly.
"I believe I'm in probably one of the best positions I've been in for years and I'm really excited to show the world what that looks like as well."
Caitlin Dore will be competing at her second Paralympic Games in Tokyo after she finished 7th in the javelin F37 in Rio.
Following the Paralympics in Rio, Dore had to reassess her athletics future, after the javelin F37 was taken off the list of guaranteed events for Tokyo 2020.
A shift to F37 shot put produced encouraging results, with Dore breaking the New Zealand F37 shot put record in February 2018, just eight months after making the change.
William Stedman competed at the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games, and at the age of 16 he won two bronze medals in the 400m and 800m T36.
"There's always extra buzz and excitement when you're competing at a major event. March 2020 was the last time I competed outside of New Zealand. I am looking forward to getting over there and competing at my best," Stedman said.
The New Zealand Paralympic team has competed in Para athletics at every Paralympic Games since Kiwis first competed at Tel Aviv in 1968.
Over this time New Zealand Para athletics athletes have won 89 medals across 13 Paralympic Games.
The New Zealand Paralympic team stands at 19 athletes with competitors from a further five Para sports expected to be named over the coming months.
