Athletes from 39 countries fight for their last chance to score points and secure a spot in Paris 2024
In less than a week, the Rio de Janeiro Velodrome will be the stage for the planet’s most important paracycling competition. Bringing together 287 athletes from 39 countries, the 2024 World Para-Cycling Track Championship has a record number of participants. The tournament is also the last qualification opportunity for the 2024 Paralympic Games in Paris.
This is the second time Brazil hosts the competition. In 2018, the Para-Cycling Track World Championship was one of the first to be held in the Olympic legacy of Rio 2016. As the host country, Brazil will have 25 athletes distributed among the participating classes, which are divided into two types: C1 to C5, for amputee athletes and those with physical and motor disabilities, and Tandem, which brings together competitors with visual impairments. The event also includes the participation of 183 team officials, 90 volunteers, and 57 officials from the International Cycling Union (UCI) and the organizing committee.
The tournament will bring the main stars of the world paracycling back to the Rio Velodrome, the venue of Rio 2016 and the 2018 World Championships. It features a 250-meter track made of Siberian pine, inclined at 12 degrees at the shallowest point and 42 degrees at the steepest. In the 2018 edition, the track was marked by several world record breaks and entered the list of the world’s fastest velodromes.
This will be the 14th edition of the event in its current format, which began to be contested biennially under the UCI’s jurisdiction in 2007 and became annual in 2014. From 1994 to 2006, there was one edition every four years, and until 2007, road competitions were also included in the same competition program. Great Britain, the Netherlands, Australia, and China are powers in the discipline on the international scene. Brazil has been gaining its place and has two world titles with Soelito Gohr (2014 in Aguascalientes) and Lauro Chaman (2018 in Rio de Janeiro). Chaman also won two medals, one silver and one bronze, at the Rio Paralympic Games in 2016.
The 2024 World Para-Cycling Track Championship is organized by the Brazilian Cycling Confederation (CBC) in partnership with the Brazilian Paralympic Committee (CPB), under the supervision of the International Cycling Union (UCI). Additionally, it is sponsored by TBA Sports Management, supported by Shimano, Santini, the Federal Government through the Sports Incentive Law, the Municipal Government of Rio de Janeiro, and the Cycling Federation of the State of Rio de Janeiro (FECIERJ).