Top amputee athletes Maya Nakanishi and Shunsuke Itani feel like they have gotten a boost to aim high with one year to go until the Tokyo Paralympics.
The two, both of whom compete in track and field, signed product sponsorship contracts with Iceland's artificial limb maker Ossur last month.
Nakanishi and Itani are now part of "Team Ossur," which consists of top-class Para sports athletes from around the world who are expected to be the faces and role models for the Reykjavik-based firm. The team includes some of the best Paralympic athletes, such as British sprinter Richard Whitehead, who has won three Paralympics medals, and Rudy Garcia-Tolson of the United States, who has earned four Paralympic medals in swimming.