Among the big international names in Paris is Brazil’s Petrucio Ferreira, the fastest Paralympian in the world, who hopes to defend his title in the T47 category over 100m. His world record is 10.29 seconds.
German Markus Rehm – known as the “Blade Jumper” – is aiming for his fourth Paralympic title in the long jump in the T64 category.
His world record of 8.72m is the ninth longest jump of all time. His 2024 record is 8.44m – a distance that would have won him Olympic silver in Paris and gold at the previous four Games.
Also in Para-athletics, Valentina Petrillo is the first openly transgender athlete to compete in the Paralympics, having been selected to represent Italy in the women’s T12 category for athletes with visual impairment.
Petrillo, who underwent gender reassignment surgery in 2019 and will run the 200 and 400 metres, told BBC Sport that her participation in the Games was an “important symbol of inclusion”.
However, in 2021, more than 30 female athletes signed a petition sent to the president of the Italian Athletics Federation and the Ministries of Equal Opportunities and Sport, challenging Petrillo’s right to compete in women’s races.
As with the Olympic Games, Russia and its ally Belarus are prohibited from sending athletes to the Games due to the ongoing war in Ukraine.
However, some Russian and Belarusian athletes will be allowed to participate as neutral participants – the Neutral Paralympic Athletes (NPA) delegation will include up to 90 participants from Russia and eight from Belarus.
All NPA members were independently verified to ensure that they did not support the war and were not under contract to the military.
Eight athletes will represent the Paralympic Refugee Team. On the first day of competition on Thursday, Zakia Khudadadi will compete in the K44 -47kg Para Taekwondo competition. Born in Afghanistan, Khudadadi represented her country in Tokyo after being safely evacuated in the days leading up to the Games.
Eritrea, Kiribati and Kosovo are three countries that will be represented at the Paralympics for the first time.
