World Para Athletics


Open to male and female athletes in all eligible impairment groups, Para athletics offers a wide range of competition opportunities. This includes the Paralympic Games which are held every four years, biannual World and World Junior Championships and biannual or quadrennial regional Championships.
Athletes compete according to their sport specific classification in each event. Some compete in wheelchairs and some with prosthetics, and vision impaired athletes are supported by a sighted guide. To further increase the number of athletes with high support needs competing in the sport, the discipline of RaceRunning was included in World Para Athletics events from the start of 2018. Para athletics is now practiced internationally by athletes in more than 130 countries.
The first Para athletics competition was held in 1952 when several athletes with spinal cord injuries took part in a javelin event as part of the Stoke Mandeville Games which served injured World War II veterans.
At the Rome 1960 Paralympics, the Para athletics competition featured 31 athletes (21 men and 10 women) from 10 countries who took part in 25 medal events. The events included shot put, javelin, precision javelin and club throw. There was also a medal event in men’s pentathlon comprising of archery, swimming, javelin, shot put and club throw. Italy topped the medals table with 32 medals. Maria Scutti won 11 medals for the host nation, including nine golds.


The Heidelberg 1972 Paralympic Games saw the Para athletics program extend beyond just athletes with a spinal cord injuries to include events for blind athletes over 100m. Such was their success, full medal events for blind athletes, alongside medal events for amputee athletes, formed part of the Toronto 1976 Paralympics.