100m sprinters stand at the startline to begin their preliminary heat

Speed. Strength. Strategy.  

All three elements and so much more were on display at Athletic Ontario's 2021 Ontario Open and Para Championships.  Held from July 30th to August 1st at the Toronto Track and Field Centre at York University, it is a main event on the Athletics Ontario summer events calendar.  The Open and Para divisions brought together athletes and parathletes who competed in multiple track and field events including short and long distance running, relay racing, hurdles, pole vault, open discus, para discus, shot put, seated shot put, hammer throw, long jump, high jump, triple jump, open javelin, and seated javelin.  

A Cruisers Sports Para Athletics athlete competes in the sitting shot put

Eligibility requirments for the Open meant that Ontario athletes born in 2001 or before who were part of the Open category were not required to acheive an entry standard of performance.  For athletes who were born in 2002 and later, they were required to achieve specific entry performance standards by the event's entry deadline.  Athletes from other provinces or countries were also required to achieve entry standards to participate in the Open. 

Open participants from Ontario had the opportunity to win gold, silver and bronze medals if they were successful enough to finish as one of the first three finishers in each championship event.  Non-Ontario athletes were also eligible to win medals but did not offset medal placements for Ontario athletes.  

Head here to find all the final results from Athletics Ontario's 2021 Ontario Open and Para Championships.

In addition to competing for medals, a number of parathletes also leveraged the Ontario Open and Para Championships event as a final opportunity to prepare themeselves to compete for Canada, and, in the case of parathlete and SWSCD Women's ParAmazing Circle co-host Jessica Lewis compete for Bermuda, at the 2020 Paralympics in Tokyo from August 24th to September 5th. 

The moment the gun goes off to start Bermudian paralympian Jessica Lewis' 800m race

Learn and hear more about Jessica Lewis' parasport athletics journey:

Dream, Believe, and Overcome: How Paralympian Jessica Lewis is Inspiring Others to Pursue Their Dreams

SWSCD Moments - 2021 Ontario Open and Open Para Championships

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