Jessica Tuomela is an extremely competitive para Triathlete. She was a world leader in swimming before adding the bike and run to her game. Tuomela won the Tokyo paralympic triathlon test event. And while all athletes are bumping up against pandemic-related challenges, the completely blind competitor’s sport is tackling existential questions. Para triathlon brings guides and athletes into extreme close contact. It’s one big scrum of bumping, breathing and sweating all over one another. Not safe. An answer might be in turning the events into time trials, but losing the mass start and sight or sound or any other sense of close competition would be a head spinning change for most para-triathletes. And while the Sault Ste. Marie native ponders the possibilities, she still has to keep honing the extreme competitive fitness that got her to the top of the sport last year. How to do that, when elite guides and training partners can barely travel? Tuomela jokes about it, but her intensely independent streak (did someone say incredible stubbornness?) is serving her well.