The Paralympic year has finally arrived
By IPC Staff / Featured photo by JB Benavent
As the world turns its attention to Tokyo, Japan, to watch the best Para athletes fighting for top honors, there are other competitions that would also keep you tuned in 2020.
Along with the much-awaited Paralympic Summer Games, the Para sporting calendar promises to offer plenty of excitement this year.
Check out some of the high-profile events lined up for this season.
WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS
Three sports that will be celebrating their top international events are:
Para Canoe: Duisburg, Germany, will be staging the World Championships from May 21-24. This event will also serve as a Paralympic qualifier.
Para Cycling: The world’s best cyclists will test themselves ahead of Tokyo 2020 at the Track World Championships in Milton, Canada, from January 30 to February 2 and at the Road World Championships in Ostend, Belgium, June 4-7.
Para Triathlon: Milan, Italy, will play host to top Para triathletes at the Worlds, to be held May 2-3.
TOKYO 2020 PARALYMPIC GAMES
Between August 25 and September 6, the biggest Para sport competition in the world will feature 4,350 Para athletes across 22 sports, with badminton and taekwondo making their Paralympic debut.
A record number of broadcasters will live telecast 21 disciplines from 19 sports, six more than Rio 2016. This means Tokyo 2020 is expected to exceed the cumulative audience of 4.1 billion who watched the 2016 Games.
Moreover, an unprecedented 3.1 million tickets were requested from the Japanese public during the first Paralympic ticket window, with 2.3 million tickets overall.
LOOKING AHEAD TO 2022
The world’s best biathletes and wheelchair curling teams will test themselves at their respective World Championships with two years to go until the 2022 Winter Paralympics in Beijing, China.
Ostersund, Sweden, will stage the 2020 World Para Biathlon Championships from March 11 -15.
It will be the first time Para biathlon and cross-country are not part of the same World Championships since 1990 in Jackson, USA, when only cross-country events were part of the competition program.
The World Wheelchair Curling Championship 2020, set to take place from February 29 to March 7 in Wetzikon, Switzerland, will be the first event in which qualifying points will be available for countries to make the field for Beijing 2022.
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