Brittni Mason had no idea she was eligible for Paralympics. Now she's chasing gold

The road to the Paralympics is uniquely Brittni Mason’s own. While attending Eastern Michigan University, someone reached out to Mason's coach and asked if one of their athletes would be interested in competing in para-sports. The team responded with confusion. It didn’t have any athletes with disabilities.

Even though Mason was born with Erb’s Palsy in her left arm, a form of brachial plexus that limits the arm's range of motion, she never thought that disability was included in the classifications of the Paralympics.

“I've been running with able bodies my entire life up until that point, since I was 10 years old and had no idea that I was eligible for Para.”

So at 21 she competed in her first Para World Championships, coming home from Dubai with a gold in the women’s 100-meter T-47 (a designation for athletes with a below elbow or wrist amputation or impairment), cementing herself as someone to watch ahead of the Tokyo Paralympics Games in 2020, held in 2021 due to the pandemic.

And watch they did. She developed a fan following after the championships in Dubai. Mason had no plans to turn professional after finishing college, but her performance changed the trajectory of her life.

“I just felt like I had another opportunity to continue my career and use my platform that I had developed with fans from Dubai to continue to impact the world in a positive way and share more about the Paralympic movement and get more people involved.”

Mason wants to bring more attention to the Paralympics to help other people like herself who aren’t aware of their eligibility. Using her platform of more than 40,000 Instagram followers, Mason has collaborated with brands like Celsius, Panasonic and Avendant Health to help promote the Games.

Mason says the collaborations are more than just a salary stream. Instead, they lead to growth in the sport.

“If companies are investing [in Para athletes], then they're also putting that out into the world,” she said. “So people are more interested in watching Para track and field or other para-sports.”

Though this is Mason's second time competing at the Paralympic Games, it will be completely different than her last experience. In Tokyo Mason won the gold in the 4x100-meter mixed medley relay and silver in the 100 and 200 T-47 races.

This time around Mason has focused her time training for the 200 in order to run her 100 even better. This style change of training has Mason hopeful for what she can accomplish in Paris.

“My coach and I were thinking, if you can run a strong 200 then you can run a really strong 100 and so that's what we've been doing. I think that has prepared me a lot more just actually feeling really fit and really in shape this year better than I have been in a very long time.”

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Brittni Mason had no idea she was eligible for Paralympics. Now she's chasing gold