The prospect of overseas spectators being barred from attending the Tokyo Games will bring athletes closer together, says two-time Paralympian Vanessa Low.
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A decision whether fans from abroad can attend the 2021 Games is expected to be made by officials later this month, amid public concern about COVID-19.
It comes after a Kyodo news agency reported the delayed Games will be staged without overseas fans on Tuesday, meaning the families of competing athletes would be excluded from watching them in Japan.
Low is preparing for her third Paralympics but the Tokyo Games will be her first representing Australia, having previously competed for her native Germany.
With her Australian and German-based families now unlikely to attend, Low has found a silver lining to the crowd's absence in that it'll strengthen the camaraderie between her compatriots as they compete on the world stage.
"All of us were looking forward to Tokyo because we all had the belief that it had the potential to be something special, but it is what it is," Low said.
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"I'm really happy that we're in the Paralympic year finally and we are preparing to be on the biggest stage, whether that's with spectators in the stadium or not if it doesn't really matter.
"It's going to be great to have some Canberra-based athletes working towards the Games together. It's going to make up for the fact that we probably won't have any other spectators, I think it's going to be a great experience together."
Low, who won the T42 long jump at the 2016 Paralympics, fine tuned her Tokyo preparations at the Canberra Track Classic on Thursday night.
In wet conditions, the 30-year-old jumped 5.05 metres in her best attempt and fouled four times.
It means Low will have to wait until at least her next meet for a chance to break her own world record in the T61 long jump, a personal goal she has in the lead up to Tokyo.
She raised it from 5.07-metres at the ACT State Championships last month with a leap of 5.09-metres.
"It gives you a bit of confidence that what you're doing at training is pushing you in the right direction," Low said.
"There's still a lot of work to be done, so getting a couple of good distances in now will be a great milestone to do something bigger and better when Tokyo comes."
Low will stay in Canberra until the end of May before finalising her preparations at a training camp in Queensland.
Her husband Scott Reardon, who is looking to defend his gold medal in the 100-metres T42 sprint, missed out on the Canberra Track Classic through injury.
Queensland's Annie McGuire won the long jump with a leap of 6.36 metres, while Christopher Mitrevski jumped 8.03 metres to claim the men's event.
Lucie Bertoldo
Lucie Bertoldo is a sports reporter for the Canberra Times.
Lucie Bertoldo is a sports reporter for the Canberra Times.
