IPC Athletics confident of Lyon 2013 success

There will be 1,300 athletes from more than 100 countries competing at the 2013 IPC Athletics World Championships this summer. 27 Feb 2013

A picture of a woman holding a French flag

France's Marie-Amelie Le Fur won gold in the women's 100m T44 final at the London 2012 Paralympic Games and could star for France again when they host the 2013 IPC Athletics World Championships.

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By IPC

“We expect the Championships to showcase both athletes who celebrated Paralympic titles in London, as well as young, emerging talent in the sport.”

IPC Athletics officials recently returned from a site visit to Lyon, France, host city of the 2013 IPC Athletics World Championships.

The Championships, which will run from 19-28 July, are receiving a lot of local support in Lyon, as a number of community programmes involving schools and sports clubs are set to take place to promote the Championships, including a test event on 25 May.

Ryan Montgomery, IPC Athletics Sport Senior Manager, said: “It was exciting to be back in Lyon to see the progress that has been made in the delivery of the World Championships by the organising committee in the past few months, and we are certain that this year’s World Championships will build off the success we created at the London 2012 Paralympic Games.”

“We expect the Championships to showcase both athletes who celebrated Paralympic titles in London, as well as young, emerging talent in the sport.”

There will be 1,300 athletes from more than 100 countries taking part in the event, as the majority of medal winners from London 2012 will look to start their preparations for the next Paralympic Games in Rio in 2016.

Great Britain’s Hannah Cockroft, who won gold in the 100m and 200m T34 events at London 2012, expressed her high expectations for Lyon 2013 when speaking to Paralympic.org this week.

“I really, really hope that people are going to come out and watch us,” Cockroft said. “Even for the Brits, it’s really close to home for us, so hopefully we can draw a crowd.”

The organising committee for the Championships is currently recruiting 1,000 volunteers, including 150 interpreters.