Para-athletics is the sport of athletics practised 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. 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.
The 2011 IPC Athletics World Championships was held in Christchurch, New Zealand from January 21 to 30, 2011. Athletes with a disability competed, and the Championships was a qualifying event for the London 2012 Paralympic Games.
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 and intellectual disabilities. The first IPC Athletics World Championships were held in Berlin, Germany in 1994.
The 2017 IAAF World Championships, the sixteenth edition of the IAAF World Championships, were held from 4 to 13 August at London Stadium in London, United Kingdom. London was officially awarded the championships on 11 November 2011.
Todd Hodgetts, is an Australian athlete on the autism spectrum who won a gold medal at the 2012 London Paralympics and a bronze medal at the 2016 Rio Paralympics, and also competed at the 2020 Summer Paralympics.
José Antonio Expósito Piñero is a Paralympic athlete from Spain.
The club throw is an athletic throwing event where the objective is to throw a wooden club. The event is one of the four throwing events, along with discus, javelin and shot put of the Summer Paralympics. It is the Paralympic equivalent of the hammer throw. The club throw was introduced for both men and women at the first 1960 Summer Paralympic Games. It was dropped from the women's programme from the 1992 Paralympics in Barcelona but was reinstated for London 2012.
El Amin Chentouf, is a Moroccan para-athlete running in T12 distance races. He has represented his country at three Summer Paralympics winning gold medals at each competition. Outside the Paralympics, Chentouf is also a world series Marathon champion, winning the T12/13 event at three London Marathons.
The 2012 IPC Athletics European Championships was a track and field competition for athletes with a disability open to International Paralympic Committee (IPC) affiliated countries within Europe. It was held in Stadskanaal, Netherlands and lasted from 23 to 28 June. The event was held in the Stadskanaal Stadium and was the last major European disability athletics event before the forthcoming 2012 Summer Paralympics in London. Approximately 550 athletes from 38 countries attended the games. Several countries used the Championships to finalise the remaining places for the Paralympics.
The World Para Athletics European Championships, known prior to 2018 as the IPC Athletics European Championships is an event organized by World Para Athletics, the international athletics federation established under the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) in 2016. Athletes with a physical disability compete, and there is also a specific category for athletes with an intellectual disability. Organised biennially, the original Games ran from 2003 to 2005 as an Open Championship but the event was frozen in 2005, but returned in 2012 in Stadskanaal, Netherlands.
The 2014 IPC Athletics European Championships was a track and field competition for athletes with a disability open to International Paralympic Committee (IPC) affiliated countries within Europe, plus Azerbaijan and Israel. It was held in Swansea, Wales and lasted from 18 to 23 August. The competition was staged at Swansea University Stadium. Approximately 550 athletes from 37 countries attended the games.
The 2015 IPC Athletics World Championships were a Paralympic track and field meet organized by the World Para Athletics subcommittee of the International Paralympic Committee. The event was the 7th edition of what is now known as the World Para Athletics Championships, held from 21 to 31 October 2015 at the Suheim Bin Hamad Stadium in Doha, Qatar. It featured 119 men's events and 91 women's events. The Marathon events which are traditionally part of the world championships were separated from the competition and instead held on 26 April as part of the London Marathon.
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 World Para Athletics Championships and 2023 World Para Athletics Championships. He represented Australia at the 2016 Rio Paralympics and 2020 Tokyo Paralympics.
Chad Perris is a vision impaired Australian athlete, born with albinism. He specialises in the 100m and 200m events. He has won two silver and two bronze medals at the World Para Athletics Championships and a bronze medal at the 2016 Rio Paralympics. He competed at the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics.
Zachary "Zac" Shaw is a British visually impaired sprinter who competes in the T12 and T13 disability classifications. At the age of nine he became afflicted with stargardt disease. In 2013 he started training for the 2016 Paralympic Games in Rio de Janeiro but was ultimately unsuccessful. In 2014 Shaw won silver in both 100 metres and 200 metres at the UK School Games. In 2015 he made his international debut in the Berlin IPC Grand Prix where he won bronze.
The 2018 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, plus Azerbaijan and Israel. It was held in Berlin, Germany and took place between 20 and 26 August 2018 at the Friedrich-Ludwig-Jahn-Sportpark. 596 athletes from 35 countries competed during the championships.
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.
The World Para Athletics Junior Championships 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 and intellectual disabilities in two age groups; under 20 and under 18. The first Championships were held in Nottwil, Switzerland in 2017, and will return there for the second edition in 2019. They are a partial Paralympic parallel to the IAAF World U20 Championships for able-bodied athletes, although both junior and youth events are held in the Paralympic equivalent.
Aleksandr Svechnikov is a visually impaired Uzbekistani Paralympic athlete competing in F13-classification javelin throw events. He represented Uzbekistan at the 2016 Summer Paralympics held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and he won the gold medal in the men's javelin throw F13 event.
Oğuz Akbulut is a Turkish Paralympian athlete competing in the T12 and T13 disability classes sprint and middle-distance events.
