The Olympic Stadium is set to bring down the curtain on the test events for the Rio 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games in high style. Starting this Wednesday (18 May) the renovated venue will host a Paralympic athletic competition that has attracted some of the biggest names in the sport, all eager to experience the new-look stadium for the first time.

In total, more than 300 Paralympic athletes from over 20 countries will participate in the IPC Athletics Grand Prix, which runs until Saturday. In September, many of them will be back here to compete for a medal in the Paralympic Games.

Martinho Nobre, Paralympic athletics manager at Rio 2016, said that the event will make sure that the Olympic Stadium is ready for a major Paralympic competition. Around 400 people will be on duty in the venue over the course of the test event.

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The USA are coming to the test event with some of their most competitive Paralympic talents, headed by discus thrower Jeremy Campbell, winner of three Paralympic gold medals and the reigning world champion. Other athletes from the USA in Rio this week include 1500m world champion Michael Branningan, who has autism, and world champions Lex Gillette in the long jump and Roderick Townsend in the high jump.

Carnival veteran Richard Browne looking forward to party atmosphere at Rio 2016 Paralympic Games

Jeremy Campbell trains in Rio on Tuesday, ahead of the test event (Photo: Rio 2016/Gabriel Nascimento)

"We wanted to be here and check it all out before the Paralympic Games, so that we know what to expect," Campbell told Rio2016.com on Tuesday. "The weather, the wind, all those things are important to understand before the real big show gets underway. Everything looks great, everyone's been very hospitable and it's good to be here."

Among many mouth-watering match-ups, local hero Felipe Gomes, 200m gold medallist in the T11 category (visually impaired) at London 2012, will be going head-to-head against Lucas Prado, who took the 100m silver ahead of Gomes in London after winning gold at Beijing 2008.

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Another sprinting star in action at the Olympic Stadium will be T11 champion Terezinha Guilhermina, gold in the women's 100m and 200m at London 2012. Terezinha will running with two new guides following a disappointing world championships in Doha in 2015. "I am very demanding," she says. "My greatest motivation is always to perform to the best of my abilities."

Usain Bolt runs as guide for blind Paralympic champion Terezinha Guilhermina in Rio

Guilhermina was a torchbearer in Belo Horizonte in May (Photo: MPIX/CPB/Daniel Zappe)

Standing between Guilhermina and a return to the top of the podium will be two of her countrywomen: Jerusa Geber dos Santos and Jhulia dos Santos, silver and bronze respectively in the 100m in London. All three will be competing in the test event this week.

In the T12 category for the visually impaired, the world's fastest Paralympic woman will also be competing in the test event. In 2015, Omara Durand from Cuba made history when she clocked the fastest 100m time ever by a female para-athlete at the Parapan-American Games, her first major event after the birth of her daughter. Durand ran the distance in 11.65 seconds – 0.26 seconds faster than the previous record.

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Golden smile: Omara Durand is red hot favourite for gold at Rio 2016 (Photo: Getty Images/Francois Nel)

A harder race to call will be the men's 100m in the T47 category (upper limb impairments), in which Brazil’s Paralympic and world champion Yohansson Nascimento faces an increasing threat from young countryman Petrucio Ferreira, who won double gold at the Parapan American Games.

From Europe, the Swiss silver bullet Marcel Hug is coming to Rio as part of the wheelchair athlete's campaign to finally take home a Paralympic gold medal. Hug has won both the Boston and London marathons this year and has a trophy cabinet full of global gold medals but so far only two Paralympic silver medals and two bronzes.

The men's long jump event in the T42 category will see the renewal of the great rivalry between Japan’s Atsushi Yamamoto and Denmark’s Daniel Jorgensen – gold and silver medallists respectively at last year’s world championships. Both athletes have already impressed on the Grand Prix circuit this year; Yamamoto jumped 6.36m in Canberra, Australia, back in February, while Jorgensen leapt a mighty 6.48m in Arizona, USA, just last week (Saturday 14 May).

Other international stars in Rio this week include Cuban sprinters Yunidis Castillo and Leinier Pineda and Italian sprint specialist Martina Caironi, the first in her category to break the 15-second barrier for the 100m. At the world championships in Doha last year, she claimed the title in a staggering 14.61 seconds. Caironi will be the Italian flagbearer at the Paralympic Games in September.