Paralympics 2024: A guide to Para-cycling at the Paris Games
Handcyclists first competed at the Athens Paralympics in 2004
- Published
Key information
Dates: 29 August-1 September, 4-7 September (road)
Venue: Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines Velodrome (track), Clichy-sous-Bois (road)
Gold medals on offer: 51
Para-cycling schedule and classifications at Paris 2024
Para-cycling at the Paralympics includes both track and road cycling.
Track cyclists ride either tandem bicycles or bicycles, while road cyclists compete on handcycles, tricycles, tandem bicycles or bicycles.
The sport includes individuals with cerebral palsy, amputations, other physical impairments and visual impairments.
C1-C5 is for athletes with cerebral palsy, amputees and others who can ride a bicycle while B is for visually impaired cyclists who are classified together and compete on tandem bicycles with a sighted pilot at the front of the bike.
They have events on the track and on the road.
H1-H5 (handcycle) is for riders with impairments affecting either both legs or a combination of the upper and lower limbs (amputees, paraplegics and tetraplegics). H1-4 all compete in a lying position whereas H5 compete in a kneeling position.
T1-T2 (tricycle) is for athletes with cerebral palsy, neurological conditions or other athletes who are unable to ride a bicycle. They compete on the road only.
Some cycling events will be factored, meaning that cyclists from different classes compete against each other and the results take into account the severity of the impairments of each competitor.
As a result, some riders within an event will have their times 'factored' while other riders will not. The gold medal goes to the athlete with the fastest time after all the required times have been factored.
The track races at the Paralympics go from the 500m time trial for women up to the 4km pursuits for male C4, C5 and B riders. The pursuits for women and for C1, C2 and C3 male riders are 3km.
Road races are held across distances between 78km and 125km for tandem riders, 37km and 80km for handcycles, 48km and 100km for bicycles and 26km and 40km for tricycles.
In the relay race, mixed teams are made up of three athletes who must each complete two or three laps, depending on the course's length.
Time trials are held on a course between 10km and 40km according to athlete category.
Who will be competing for GB?
With 17 Paralympic gold medals across swimming and cycling, Sarah Storey is competing at her ninth Games and will have good chances of adding to her tally on the roads of Clichy-sous-Bois.
She is one of a number of British defending champions returning with Kadeena Cox and Jaco van Gass, and husband and wife Neil and Lora Fachie and their pilots Matt Rotherham and Corrine Hall.
The Fachies both won gold in the space of 16 minutes on the track in Tokyo and since then, Lora has returned to competition after having their son Fraser in October.
Fachie and Hall are one of three strong GB combinations in the women's B events, along with Tokyo silver and bronze medallists Sophie Unwin and Jenny Holl plus debutants Lizzi Jordan and Danni Khan.
Also included is Jody Cundy, who will be competing at his eighth Games after participating in last year's series of Strictly Come Dancing.
Cundy will compete in the C4-5 1,000m time trial before joining Cox and Van Gass in the mixed team sprint event.
Who are the other challengers?
GB topped the medal table in Tokyo with each member of the squad winning at least one medal.
Since then, they have continued to dominate with good performances at last year's World Championships in Scotland - both on the track and on the road - and in the Track World Championships in Brazil earlier this year.
On the road, the Netherlands are traditionally strong while France will also be a threat on home soil in both disciplines.
Kevin Le Cunff, Alexandre Leaute and Heidi Gauguin, who will compete against Sarah Storey on the road, will be among those aiming to celebrate.
And there will be dual stars in action too including triathletes Jetze Plat of the Netherlands and American Oksana Masters.
Did you know?
British rider Lizzi Jordan lost her sight in 2017 aged 19 after contracting a rare strain of E. coli bacteria, through food poisoning which left her in a coma and fighting for survival.
She said it left her at "rock bottom" and contemplating how to live life without sight.
In 2020, she attended a British Cycling talent ID day and despite having barely ridden a bike before losing her sight, she impressed in testing.
Jordan's hard work saw her make her compete at the 2023 World Championships in Glasgow. Having linked up with pilot Danni Khan in November, the pair have gone from strength to strength, winning three golds at this year's Track Worlds in Brazil and chasing a first Paralympic title in Paris.
ParalympicsGB Tokyo 2020 medals
24 - 10 gold, 11 silver and three bronze