As part of Rio 2016’s Paralympic Festival to mark one year until the Paralympic Games and the launch of ticket sales, the city’s iconic Lagoa Rodrigo de Freitas will provide the background to a pair of 100m races on Monday (7 September) that will define the world’s fastest female and male para-athletes.

 

With just over one month to go until the IPC Athletics World Championships in Doha, Qatar, many of the world’s fastest sprinters, including world record holders and Paralympic champions from across a number of classifications, will go head-to-head in Rio for the title of quickest para-athlete on the planet.

 

Headlining the men’s race will be Ireland’s visually impaired sprinter Jason Smyth, a four-time Paralympic gold medallist, and Australian Evan O’Hanlon, a sprinter in the T38 cerebral palsy class who has won five Paralympic and seven world titles. O’Hanlon and Smyth will line-up against the US duo of Richard Browne and David Brown, and the Brazilian pair of Petrucio Ferreira and Felipe Gomes.

 

The 27-year-old O’Hanlon said: “It’s an absolute honour to be invited, not only to race for the title of fastest Paralympian in the world, but also to race in Brazil one year before the Games. I feel that travelling to Brazil and racing will put me in a better position to defend my unbeaten run at the Paralympics next year in Brazil.

 

“I'm looking forward to racing the best the IPC has to offer. I’m particularly looking forward to sharing an office with Jason Smyth, the fastest Paralympian ever. He is like the Roger Federer of our sport.”

 

 

Up until last month, world and Paralympic silver medallist Richard Browne was the world record holder in the T44 single below leg amputee class with a time of 10.75 and has not lost a competitive race since July 2013. His teammate David Brown, who runs with a guide as a result of his visual impairment, is the 100m T11 record holder with a time of 10.92 seconds and is coached by Brazilian Olympic 800m champion Joaquim Cruz.

 

Representing the home nation will be 18-year-old Ferreira, the 200m T47 world record holder, and Gomes, a world silver medallist in the T11 class.

 

Favourite to win the women’s race will be Cuba’s Omara Durand who, at August’s Toronto 2015 Parapan American Games, ran 11.65 seconds over 100m to take the title of world’s fastest female para-athlete. She will compete against teammate Yunidis Castillo, who is Cuba’s most decorated Paralympian and the T47 world record holder with a time of 11.95.

 

The home favourite will be Brazilian Terezinha Guilhermina, a winner of three Paralympic and eight world titles, who ran with Usain Bolt as her guide in Rio earlier this year.

 

 

 

In addition to the 100m races, the Paralympic Festival will also showcase wheelchair basketball, five-a-side football for the visually impaired, sitting volleyball and much more.

 

A photography exhibition celebrating Paralympic athletes will be on display alongside an installation displaying technological innovations that have helped improve quality of life for people with a disability.