Dubai to Tokyo and Everything In Between
With the 2019 Para Athletics World Championships just over a week away, I thought I’d check in with you all about what's going on and how you can follow my races and get the best goss. Who doesn't like hot goss!?
Currently, it’s T-1 day before we fly out to Dubai. Buckle up humans, it’s about to get warm…
I always tend to get anxious in these few days before I fly out for a major competition. For me, the nerves are not always a bad thing. They remind me of the journey I’ve been on, especially since the start of the year. I’ve made big improvements in my training, but I haven't managed to get my best performances down in a race in a consistent way yet. Mostly it reminds me that I have a job to do. I know the nerves will settle once I get to Dubai, I know my warm up strategies, how to calm my mind before the race and I know I'm capable of putting a competitive time down. I just have to focus and not get too riled up in my own head.
I’ll arrive in Dubai with a week before my first race, plenty of time to acclimatise to the time difference and the expected hot conditions that will greet us as soon as we get off the plane. Settling into training and checking out the competition venue will be the main focus of the first few days as we adjust to the new environment. Honestly, I’m also really looking forward to being in a big team again. It’s fantastic to see everyone come together supporting and cheering each other on with one shared goal of kicking some butt. It helps me get in the right spirit and headspace.
A few people have been asking me how and if World Champs will help with the selection for Tokyo 2020 next year...which is a great question as Tokyo is the major goal. The short answer is that good times at World Champs helps, but it is not a guarantee.
Basically, the selection window opens at the start of World Champs next month and closes very shortly before the Paralympics next year. Placing and/or racing well at World's won't automatically select me on the team.
Tokyo selections will be very similar to how World Champs selections worked. Read this blog post if you want the full explanation of the World Championships selection process. Here is a simplified version.
Athletics Australia releases a minimum qualifying time to be considered for selections for the Tokyo 2020 team.
An athlete must attain this minimum repeatedly at international races during the qualifying window to even be considered for selections. For World Champs selections you had to achieve at least 2 qualifying times.
Very close to the Paralympic Games, a selection committee will review the performances and race times for everyone who met this criteria (along with other eligibility requirements, ie. nationality, conduct, etc) and then will make and announce selections for the 2020 Australian Paralympic Team.
Yes, World Champs is the first opportunity to set a qualifying time for Tokyo. Other major qualifying events next year are the Summer Down Under racing series in Canberra and Sydney in January and the Switzerland racing series in May/June.
The qualifying times for Tokyo will be released AFTER World Champs has concluded. This is because the times set at World Champs will guide them in setting the qualifying threshold.
If you’re interested in my races in particular, here is the schedule of my heats and, hopefully, finals.
Race Times
08/11/2019 - 20:35 (GMT+4) - Men’s T52 400m Heats
09/11/2019 - 20:30 (GMT+4) - Men’s T52 400 Final
11/11/2019 - 20:44 (GMT +4) - Men’s T52 100m Heats
12/11/2019 - 20:50 (GMT +4) - Men’s T52 100m Final
Here’s the full schedule for all the other awesome events!
How To Keep Updated On and Watch the Action
Channel 7 in Australia will, FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER, be airing coverage of the event!
The Championships will be live-streamed on the Paralympic Games YouTube channel.
Twitter will have constant updates of results and standings. Good accounts to follow to keep up with the whole team and all the World Champs action are: @AthsAust and @AUSParalympics.
If you’d like to keep up with me in particular, check out for my updates (as soon as I can give them) on
Facebook - Sam McIntosh Racing
You can also find these links on the Follow page.
Just a quick shout out to everyone who has donated for a calendar so far, it’s great to see how many people are interested in having my mug gracing their walls for a year! The calendars finally arrived from the printers and I’m thrilled with how they turned out! Also, a super grateful mention to Susan for helping spread the word to seemingly the whole American west coast and, of course, to my mate Jake for helping with an Instagram shout out and, more importantly, agreeing to be an amazing model in several months with me. Seriously though, July is an instant classic!! Click here if you want more information on getting one of these awesome calendars!
Thanks again for all the support so far, I won’t be blogging while I’m over in Dubai but keep an eye on my social media accounts for the day-to-day updates on me and my shenanigans. I’ll be back after the Championships are wrapped up ready to pour out my experiences and emotions with a deep dive into what went down. Let’s go! Vroom Vroom!