Seven members of the Irish Para athletics team have traveled to Paris this week to compete at the 2024 Handisport Open. Stade Charléty will host the competition which takes place over two days, June 13th – 14th.
A total of 389 athletes from over 50 nations line up in the pre-Paralympic event, with some of the biggest stars in Para Athletics from Great Britain, USA, Morocco and Switzerland to be in action at Stade Charléty.
The Parisian stadium will be familiar to some of the athletes traveling as it also hosted the Para Athletics World Championships last summer. The qualification window for Paris 2024 closes on July 16th and so this is the last chance for Irish athletes to solidify their place on the team ahead of the Paralympic Games in August.
Speaking ahead of the competition Head of Para, Athletics James Nolan said: “With the World Para Athletics cut of date for achieving the Paris Paralympic Games high performance standard (HPS) being June 16th, the competition in Paris presents the last opportunity
for athletes to achieve a performance for consideration. It has been great to see so many Irish para-athletics athletes achieve the HPS this summer in what is a truly global sport. Para athletics is the biggest sport within the Paralympic movement in terms of the number of participating athletes and countries.
Orla, Greta, Mary & Lana have been showing great form this summer. Cathal Ryan & Alex Lee are agonizingly close to the HPS and this event presents an excellent opportunity with great competition, an excellent venue and favorable weather conditions.”
The event will be livestreamed here.
Irish Athlete Schedule:
Thursday:
11:58: Orla Comerford 100m T13
14:05/14:12: Alex Lee 100m T64
15:22: Lana Sutton 100m T37/38
16:10: Greta Streimikyte 1500m T13
16:30: Aaron Shorten 1500m T20
Friday:
11:40/11:47: Alex Lee 200m T64
14:00: Lana Stutton Long Jump T37/38
15:30: Mary Fitzgerald Shot Put F40
16:45: Cathal Ryan 400m T46/47
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