Para-athletics is the sport of athletics practiced by people with a disability as a parasport. The athletics events within the parasport are mostly the same as those available to able-bodied people, with two major exceptions in wheelchair racing and the club throw, which are specific to the division. Certain able-bodied events are rarely contested as para-athletic events outside deaf sport; pole vault, triple jump, hammer and the three hurdling events. The sport is known by various names, including disability athletics, disabled track and field and Paralympic athletics. Top-level competitors may be called elite athletes with disability.
Evan George O'Hanlon, is an Australian Paralympic athlete, who competes mainly in category T38 sprint events. He has won five gold medals at two Paralympic Games – 2008 Beijing and 2012 London. He also represented Australia at the 2016 Rio Paralympics and 2020 Tokyo Paralympics, winning a silver medal and a bronze medal respectively. In winning the bronze medal in the Men's 100m T38 at the 2019 World Para Athletics Championships in Dubai, O'Hanlon became Australia's most successful male athlete with a disability. His bronze medal took him to 12 medals in five world championships – one more than four-time Paralympian Neil Fuller.
The World Para Athletics Championships, known as the IPC Athletics World Championships prior to 2017, are a biennial Paralympic athletics event organized by World Para Athletics, a subcommittee of the International Paralympic Committee (IPC). It features athletics events contested by athletes with physical disabilities. The first IPC Athletics World Championships were held in Berlin, Germany in 1994.
Rheed McCracken is an Australian Paralympic athletics competitor. He named the 2012 Junior Athlete of the Year as part of the Australian Paralympian of the Year Awards. He represented Australia at the 2012 London Paralympics, 2016 Rio Paralympics, 2020 Tokyo Paralympics and the 2024 Paris Paralympics, where he won three silver and three bronze medals.
Michael Roeger is an Australian T46 athletics competitor. He competed at the 2008, 2012, 2016, 2020 and 2024 Summer Paralympics in athletics in middle distance and marathon running events. He has won one gold, one silver and four bronze medals at the World Para Athletics Championships and a silver and bronze medal at the Paralympics. His gold in the Men's T46 marathon at the 2019 World Para Athletics Championships was held as part of the London Marathon, set a new world record.
Sam McIntosh is an Australian Paralympic athlete who races in the T52 100m, 200m, and 400m events. He holds 3 Australian National Records and 2 Oceania Records. He represented Australia at the 2012 London Paralympic Games, 2016 Rio Paralympics, 2020 Tokyo Paralympics and the 2024 Paris Paralympics in athletics as well as the 2011, 2015, 2017, 2019 and 2023 Para Athletic World Championships.
Germany competed at the 2016 Summer Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from 7 September to 18 September 2016. The first places the team qualified were for four athletes in sailing events. They also qualified athletes in archery, cycling, equestrian, paracanoeing, paratriathlon, rowing and wheelchair basketball.
Guy Nicholas Henly is an Australian Paralympic athlete. He currently competes in discus and shot put and has won medals at the 2013, 2015, 2017, 2019 and 2023 World Para Athletics Championships. He represented Australia at the 2016 Rio Paralympics, 2020 Tokyo Paralympics and the 2024 Paris Paralympics.
Ella Azura Pardy is an Australian Paralympic athlete who competes in the T38 100m, 200m and long jump. She represented Australia at the 2016 Rio Paralympics in athletics where she won a bronze medal and the 2020 Toykor Paralympics and the 2024 Paris Paralympics
James Michael Apsley Turner, is an Australian Paralympic athlete and soccer player with cerebral palsy. He has represented Australia as part of the Australia Paralympic soccer team, the ParaRoos, and was its player of the year in 2013. At the 2016 Rio Paralympics, he won the Men's 800m T36 in a world record time of 2:02.39. He won a gold and silver medal at the 2020 Toyko Paralympics. At the 2024 Paris Paralympics, he won two gold medals including a world record in the 400m T36.
The 2017 World Para Athletics Championships were a Paralympic track and field meet organized by World Para Athletics, a subcommittee of the International Paralympic Committee. It was held at London Stadium in London from 14 to 23 July 2017. It was the 8th edition of the event, the first to be held after being renamed from IPC Athletics World Championship, and featured 213 medal events.
The 2019 World Para Athletics Championships was a Paralympic track and field event organised by the World Para Athletics subcommittee of the International Paralympic Committee. It was held in Dubai, United Arab Emirates from 7 to 15 November 2019. It was the 9th edition of the event, formerly known as the IPC Athletics World Championship prior to 2017.
The 2019 World Para Swimming Championships was the tenth edition of the World Para Swimming Championships run by the International Paralympic Committee (IPC). The championships were held from February to June in seven countries across five continents and served as a qualifying event for Paralympic swimming at the 2020 Summer Paralympics. The event was sponsored by Allianz.
Israel competed at the 2020 Summer Paralympics in Tokyo from 24 August to 5 September 2021. The delegation includes 33 athletes – 18 women and 15 men – competing in 11 sports: athletics, badminton, boccia, goalball, paracanoeing, powerlifting, rowing, shooting, swimming, table tennis, and wheelchair tennis.
The 2024 World Para Athletics Championships was a para-athletics meet organized by the World Para Athletics, the respective sport branch of the International Paralympic Committee.
The 2021 World Para Athletics European Championships was a track and field competition for athletes with a disability open to International Paralympic Committee (IPC) affiliated countries within Europe and a refugee team with one athlete. This was the 7th edition of the event. This was also the first time that the event was held in Poland. Around 670 athletes competed at the event.
Ezra Frech is an American track and field athlete who competes in high jump, long jump and sprinting events. He is a two-time Paralympian, having competed at the 2020 Summer Paralympics and won two gold medals at the 2024 Summer Paralympics. He also won two silver medals at the 2019 Parapan American Games. Frech is a motivational speaker and disability rights advocate.
Fleur Jong is a Dutch Paralympic athlete. She won the gold medal in the women's long jump T64 event at the 2020 Summer Paralympics in Tokyo, Japan and the 2024 Summer Paralympics in Paris, France. As of September 2023, her world record in this event is 6.74 metres.
Israel competed at the 2024 Summer Paralympics in Paris, France, from 28 August to 8 September 2024.
