Para Athletics is open to athletes with a wide range of impairments, including:

• Visual Impairments
• Intellectual Impairments
• Neurological Impairments
• Dwarfism
• Amputees
• Wheelchair users

How the Sport Works

Track and field events are available for athletes with various disabilities. At the 2016 Rio Paralympics, the competition featured 1,147 athletes from 147 National Paralympic Committees across all five continents.

The track and field events mirror those in able-bodied athletics meetings, but only certain events for specific classes are medal events at the Paralympic Games.

At the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics, a new mixed gender, mixed class 4 x 100m relay was introduced. This event features:

• Two male and two female Para athletes from different classes.
• One vision-impaired athlete (T11-13).
• One wheelchair racer.
• One athlete from the T42-47 or T61-64 limb impairments classes.
• One athlete from the T35-38 coordination impairments classes.

Not all events are available to all disability groups at every Paralympic Games.

Historic Paralympic Representation

Para Athletics was one of the eight sports included in the first Paralympic Games in Rome, Italy, in 1960. It has remained a core sport in the program ever since, consistently attracting the largest crowds and TV audiences among Paralympic sports.