Grand Prix 2024: Athletes get ready for final meet in Paris ahead of Paralympics

Paris. The city of light. The city of love. And the city of Para Athletics – at least for the next two and a half months.

The French capital is the final point for the 2024 Grand Prix season, and coming immediately off the back of Nottwil, it’s promising to be one to remember. We have put everything together to get you fully prepared. Allez!

And it all comes down to this

Every Grand Prix season brings the biggest moments across the globe. But this one? This one somehow felt even bigger than usual. Having had a World Championships sandwiched in between events, each meet seemed to have an added meaning going into it, and a bigger impact leading out of it. But that’s only the start of the story.

Because with the Paralympic Games on the horizon in August and September, the meets have allowed lines to be drawn and flags to be put down. And with this final meeting coming on Parisian soil, the meanings are much, much bigger than everything that has come before. 

Taking place in the Charlety Stadium – the scene of last year’s Para Athletics World Championships – it’s a throwback for many athletes to not even a year ago when the good and the great of our sport descended. For most athletes, this will likely be their final piece of the international preparation in advance of the Games. So, it will be an opportunity to finetune techniques, perform in front of an excited local audience and maybe even get used to those long Paris days.

A Saturday that brought the very best to Nottwil 💫

📸 - Tobias Lackner#ParaAthletics | #Nottwil2024 pic.twitter.com/jyi6ljpjM6

— #ParaAthletics (@ParaAthletics) June 9, 2024

Who will compete this weekend?

Nottwil brought the A-list last week, and in a city like Paris, you just know it’s going to be a who’s who once again. 389 athletes are registered to compete from more than 50 NPCs, and each of those athletes will be bringing their own major ambitions.

Making the short trip on the Eurotunnel will be a 27-strong Great Britain team including 100m T38 Paralympic champion Thomas Young, Paralympic Games royalty Jonnie Peacock and Kadeena Cox, all of whom have big intentions.  

From Team USA, Nick Mayhugh is just one of those leading lights. Tokyo’s 100 and 200m T37 champion is confirmed, as is the always unmissable Hunter Woodhall, the two-time silver medallist from Kobe’s World Championships last month. The equally iconic Scout Bassett will compete too. 

Morocco’s 400m sensation Abdeslam Hili wants to retain his T12 title that he won in Tokyo, and he’ll aim to set a marker to all those around him this weekend. Catherine Debrunnner heads to Paris fresh off a thrilling showing in her home nation last weekend, along with a returning Netherlands’ icon Fleur Jong. Fleur won gold in both the long jump and 100m for the T64 category in Kobe, and as the reigning Paralympic champion in the sand, this is yet another chance to put herself at the very top.

Fleur’s teammate Marlene Van Gansewinkel took the T64 titles in Tokyo across the two quickest sprint competitions: she is in action. Kimberley Alkemade was in record-setting pace in Nottwil: she is here too. 

And we haven’t even got started on the hosts. Whether it’s Tokyo T20 400m champion Charles-Antoine Kouakou, T64 long jump silver medallist Dimitri Pavadé, the mighty Angelina Lanza or the medal-driven Timothee Adolphe, the home crowd are going to have plenty to be cheering for. 

If we were to sit here and list every major name, it would be an incredibly long preview. But you can guarantee that there are those mentioned and so many more lined up to ensure this pre-Paralympic get together is going to have all the feel of something considerably more than an end-of-season meet.

🇳🇱 @FleurJong_ retains the world title in the women's long jump T64 and sets a new championships record of 6.53m

🥈Marlene Van Gansewinkel 🇳🇱
🥉Maya Nakanishi 🇯🇵

📊Live results: https://t.co/mco1aiY7HU#Kobe2024 @kobe2022wpac @TeamNLtweets @Paralympisch @ParaAtletiek pic.twitter.com/qeTAREGb7a

— #ParaAthletics (@ParaAthletics) May 20, 2024

How can you follow?

Time is of the essence, and you can fill yours with every second from this show!

Every step, every throw, every jump is being brought directly to your courtesy of a live stream across the full competition.

You can watch it all on YouTube

And make sure you stay tuned to the World Para Athletics social media pages for imagery from across the competition. 

From Paris to…Paris

We have mentioned it a bit, but it’s with good reason. Paris is the home of this summer’s biggest spectacles, as the Paralympic Games take to the streets and the venues of the city. 

The Paralympic Games will begin on 28 August, but our fun starts from 30 August. And, from there we go all the way to 8 September, with the thrilling action continuing right up until the closing ceremony. Will you be joining us?

Don’t forget that you will be able to get all the information in advance on how you can follow along wherever you are in the world. And keep your eyes across the World Para Athletics channels for the key happenings.