THE date is Saturday, February 29 and Nowra-born triathlete Jonathan Goerlach has just won the 2020 Devonport ITU World Paratriathlon Series event.
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This strong result with his race guide Sam Douglas moved the pair up to third PTVI men's rankings - all but cementing their spot at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics.
But just when it appeared the duo's hard work was starting to pay off, things changed in an instance with COVID-19.
"Sam and I had a little bit of a break [from training] after Devonport, to help rest and recover from the event," Goerlach, who was diagnosed with Usher Syndrome type two at age 15, said.
"Everything was then ticking along fine until the weekend of March 14 and 15, where events were starting to be cancelled, both here in Australia and abroad, because of COVID-19 and the issues surrounding it."
It was at this point when China was going through its first outbreak, that it started to affect Goerlach both in the water but away from the competition.
"When things really kicked off in China is when we noticed how bad this virus was," he said.
"I'm an elected member of the International Triathlon Union Athlete Committee, so it was at this time, we were starting to have meetings more regularly than usual - as was the case with our chats with the International Paralympic Committee athlete global conference group," he said.
"From that perspective, that's when things started to become more serious.
"Then from mid-March onwards, events started to get cancelled around the world - for example, the next race after Devonport was in Abu Dhabi and there were actually a lot of athletes who had competed in Tasmania who were scheduled to head there next.
"That was the first major race that was cancelled and every race since then has also been cancelled.
"When that all started happening, it was obvious that the Paralympic Games would likely follow suit.
"Although the International Paralympic Committee and the Japanese government were adamant the Games were still going to go ahead.
"It was pretty clear from an athlete's point of view there wasn't going to be enough time for athletes to prepare adequately, because of al the restrictions - especially all those sports that are yet to complete their qualification process like triathlon.
"To not push the Games back would have made the process for athletes, across many sports, to qualify unfair.
"We didn't know how long they would be pushed back, anywhere from a couple of months to a year, but we knew it was going to happen, as it needed to happen."
The anxious wait for Goerlach and all other potential Tokyo 2020 Paralympic athletes was ended recently when it was announced the Games would be postponed one year to run from August 24 to September 5.
"It [the announcement] was a relief, while also being an obvious disappointment - as all us athletes had been training to peak at the one moment in time," he said.
"You're training and preparing for that one event for many years - I have to scale back and restart the process, to ensure I'm peaking in 18 months time.
"Some people say to me it could be a blessing in disguise because it gives me more time to improve my swim, which is true to some extent, but it now could be months before we're back in the pool.
"The longer we go without doing that, the potentially harder it is for me, as a weaker swimmer, to get back to where I was and even get beyond that and improve more.
"If we can get back in the pool in the next couple of months, then I can capitalise on the opportunity to spend more time in the water and improve my swim leg."
It's not just Goerlach's swim training that is impacted by the federal government's restrictions.
"For a couple of weeks there, before the Games were officially cancelled, we were unsure what was going to happen and had to train as if they were still going ahead," he said.
"There was a lot of stress around.
"At one point, I had planned to base myself at the AIS (Australian Institute of Sport) with my coach and some other athletes, which essentially would have been a much lower risk training location, as they had a lot of protocols in place at the facility.
"I packed my bags ready to go down to Canberra and the night before we were supposed to leave, the high performance director made the call to pull the pin - which was about the time the government made the rule about non-essential travel.
"Everything was moving quite rapidly, creating a lot of stress for the athletes, in regards to where and how we were going to train.
"As such, the decision to postpone the Games was significant, as it alleviated a lot of that stress - athletes like myself could now choose to have a week or two of no training and treat it as an end of season break while trying to stay healthy and not contract the virus.
"For mental health reasons, I've kept training but at a low-key volume, just to keep things ticking over."
This isn't the first time the former Bomaderry High School student has dealt with Paralympic Games heartache, after a massive disappointment ahead of Rio 2016.
"Because of what happened with Rio [his event PTVI wasn't included on the schedule], I've now been working eight years towards this goal, so what's one more year in the grand scheme of things," he said.
"As long as we still have the opportunity to qualify next year, I'm not too fazed by the extra 12 months of work.
"At this stage, the qualification criteria looks the same and all the points I've accrued this season puts me in a really strong position to qualify for 2021, regardless of what races they offer around the world in the next 14 months."
In the meantime, the 36-year-old is going to treat the near future as his off-season and do his bit for society.
"We're going to treat this next six months or so as a really long off-season and develop that base again - with a huge focus on fitness," Goerlach, who has been taking full advantage of his indoor cycling trainer and treadmill, said.
"No race-specific sort of training or no speed work, it's more just getting as strong and fit as possible, while maintaining my strength as best I can at my home gym.
"There's a lot of strength work with running and cycling - it's just keeping that going and staying fit until we can return to normal training environments.
"And if I want to go for a swim at Belmore Basin, I just use my NDIS (National Disability Insurance Scheme) funding to get a support worker to drive me to and from.
"Lately there's been no one else in the water with me, I just chuck my wetsuit on and turn the arms over for 30 minutes at a time - swimming one or two kilometres at a time.
"I'm not really getting volume or any specific training done, it's just about ticking things over so that when I resume my regular training in the pool, it won't be too much of a shock to the system.
"At the very earliest, we won't be competing again until the end of the year, but more than likely, the start of 2021 - largely due to the state of each country and how they're dealing with coronavirus.
"The situation is very fluid and we just need to keep monitoring its ever-changing nature - I just hope Australia and every other country can get through this together.
"At the end of the day, the Games are going to be amazing regardless and I think they'll be a way for everyone to celebrate together, following this worldwide pandemic."