'This is all real now': Tension, pressure tick up as Paralympics loom 8 months away

With about eight months until the Paris Paralympics begin, it would be easy for athletes to step a little harder on the gas and push beyond their long-established routines.

If the Games are the final exam, many athletes still must make it through midterms — qualifying, in this case. Others with their tickets to Paris already in hand already know exactly when they plan to peak.

But there may be a natural mental fast-forward button for both groups when you hear 2024 — the signifier that we are now in a Paralympic year. That gut feeling — have I prepared well enough? — can seep into even elite athletes' minds.

"Every time another milestone turns, the tension comes up a little bit and the pressure comes up a bit and this is all real now," Athletics Canada high-performance director Simon Nathan told CBC Sports.

Adding to it all is the fact that Paris will be a relative return to normal after the past two Olympics and Paralympics were marred by the pandemic.

For athletes entering their second Games, that might mean their first true, unrestricted taste of the Athletes' Village — and all of the potential distraction that comes with it — not to mention the added stress of having family and friends present as well.

"It's going to be unusual because it's a real Olympics this time," Nathan said. "Nothing wrong with Tokyo [2020], it was a fantastic event, but there were no crowds and it was COVID and it was delayed a year so it's great to be back in a normal Olympic year."

That re-found normalcy is also evident in pre-Games schedule.

In Para athletics, the next major event is the world championships, which take place in Japan in May, the proximity to the Paralympics a result of rescheduling from the pandemic. Athletics Canada plans