2024 Paralympics-Women to Watch
With final numbers still to be fully confirmed due to teams still arriving in the French capital, it looks like the Paris Paralympics 2024 will feature around 4,400 athletes from a record 168 delegations.
As well as a record number of female competitors, Paris 2024 will feature more medal events for women than ever before. The 235 events for women are eight more than were contested at Tokyo 2020.
International Paralympics Committee Response
“The IPC is constantly striving to engage with our members to advance the Paralympic Movement, so to achieve both a record number of competing delegations and female athletes for the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games is fantastic news,” said Andrew Parsons, IPC President. “To have 168 delegations at the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games represents a 24% growth on the 135 nations that took part at the Athens Paralympic Games. What’s most impressive is at the same time, the number of competing delegations has grown, and so has the number of female athletes and the quality of sport and competition,” Parsons concluded.
Exciting Sports to Watch
Para Athletics: Look out for top athletes like Tatyana McFadden from the USA, who have dominated wheelchair racing.
Wheelchair Basketball: The USA and the Netherlands have strong teams, making for thrilling matches.
Sitting Volleyball: The USA women’s team is a powerhouse in this sport.
Para Cycling: Sarah Storey from Great Britain is a legend in this sport with numerous medals.
Women to Watch:
- Hannah Cockcroft – Para-Athletics
Hannah Cockcroft is a Yorkshire-born wheelchair racer who has won seven Paralympic medals and 16 World Championship medals.
In Paris 2024, her fourth Games, she is competing in the T34 classification – the category for athletes who are impacted by their lower limbs.
Within the athletics community, she is known as ‘Hurricane Hannah’ and many are watching her eagerly to see if she can bring home another medal.
- Rachel Choong – Badminton
Choong can win her first-ever Paralympic medal. Her sport of badminton was only added to the Paralympic roster in Tokyo 2020, but Rachel was not selected.
After winning the 2022 World Championship title, Choong will be looking to bring home more gold medals in the women’s singles and mixed doubles competitions in Paris.
- Iona Winnifrith – Swimming
At only 13 years old, she is the youngest swimmer in the Paralympics GB team this year.
It’s no surprise that this is Iona’s first Paralympic Games – she was only 10 in Tokyo 2020 – but she is ambitious nonetheless, having already won two European titles already this year, in Breaststroke and Individual Medley.
- Hollie Arnold – Para-Athletics
Grimsby-born javelin thrower Hollie Arnold has already won two Paralympics medals – Gold in Rio and Bronze in Tokyo – as well as seven World Championship titles.
Arnold competed in her first Games at just 14 years old. By 2018, Arnold had won all four major titles in that four-year Paralympic cycle – the first ever para javelin thrower to do so in history.
- Mariska Beijer – Wheelchair Basketball
Returning Dutch wheelchair basketball champion Mariska Beijer is a standout on a team of standouts, an experienced veteran in the huddle, and a powerful weapon on the court. She is seeking to defend the Netherlands’ 2020 Paralympic gold and defeat her team’s German rivals. The superstar is known for her strength and aggression on offense.
These are just some of the many incredible women we will be watching starting August 28th through September 8th in the 2024 Paris Paralympics.
