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London and Leverkusen host elite Para athletics action in a packed July weekend
Marcel Hug, Markus Rehm, Sophie Hahn, Fleur Jong, Ambra Sabatini and plenty of other stars compete across two European venues on Saturday 17 Jul 2026
There will be plenty of Para athletics stars in action in London and Leverkusen on Saturday (18 July).
The Novuna London Athletics Meet, the 11th stop of this year’s Diamond League, will feature four Para athletics events, while the German city will once again host the traditional Para Leichtathletik Heimspiel.
Home of the 2012 Paralympic Games and the 2017 World Para Athletics Championships, the London Stadium boasts an outstanding line-up of international Paralympic champions, world champions and world record holders.
The first Para athletics race of the afternoon will be the men’s 100m ambulant, a multi-class event in which attention will focus on Norway’s Salum Ageze Kashafali (T12), the Paralympic champion and world record holder, alongside British Paralympic medallists Zac Shaw (T12) and Thomas Young (T38).
The men’s ambulant 1500m follows, featuring Great Britain’s Paralympic champion and T20 world record holder Ben Sandilands. Another event on the programme is the men’s 1500m T54, headlined by wheelchair racing legend Marcel Hug of Switzerland – a seven-time Paralympic champion and multiple world champion – alongside multiple world medallists Brent Lakatos of Canada and Nathan Maguire of Great Britain.
In the women’s 100m ambulant, Great Britain’s Sophie Hahn (T38), a double Paralympic champion and former world record holder, will be joined by Ireland’s Orla Comerford – the reigning 100m T13 and 200m T13 world champion –; New Zealand’s Anna Grimaldi, the 200m T47 Paralympic champion and 100m T47 bronze medallist; and Dutch long jump superstar Fleur Jong (T62).
London is the fifth Diamond League this season to feature Para athletics, following Rome, Oslo, Paris and Eugene. Complete results and more information can be found here.
🇩🇪 Leverkusen 2022 Para Leichtathletik Heimspiel
— Para Athletics (@ParaAthletics) July 4, 2022
Fleur Jong settled historic mark, world record holders competing on home soil and the amazing ‘Happy Para Kids’ competitions.
📸Mika Volkmann #ParaAthletics @Paralympics @teamdpara @tsv_bayer_04 @ParaSport
Heimspiel 2026
Meanwhile, in Leverkusen, the Manforter Stadion will see the return to action of one of Para athletics greats. Long jumper Markus Rehm (T64) wants to make his first competitive jump of the season at his home meet after recovering from injury.
The four-time Paralympic champion and world record holder in the event is one of the athletes who call the German city home, competing for Bayer Leverkusen. Rehm will compete in the long jump alongside teammate Leon Schaefer (T63) and Joel de Jong, who broke the T63 long jump world record two years ago in Leverkusen and later improved his own mark at the Paris Paralympics. His compatriot Noah Mbuyamba, the Paris 2024 T63 bronze medallist, will also be in the field.
Other Dutch stars in action at Heimspiel 2026 include women’s javelin F46 reigning world champion Noelle Roorda; Lara Baars – the Paralympic and world champion in the women’s shot put F40; seven-time Paralympic medallist Marlene van Gansewinkel (T64); and Olivier Hendriks, a two-time Paralympic medallist in the men’s 400m T62.
Tokyo 2020 Paralympic champion and two-time world champion in the women’s 100m T63, Italy’s Ambra Sabatini will compete in the long jump. She leads a team of seven senior and three youth Italian national team athletes in Leverkusen.
Sabatini will face Swiss long jumper Elena Kratter, a two-time Paralympic bronze medallist in the T63 event who also competes for Bayer Leverkusen. Japan’s Tomomi Tozawa, a two-time World Championships long jump T63 medallist, returns to Heimspiel as part of the preparations for the Asian Para Games in her country later this year.
The long jump events will also feature Germany’s T38 Paralympic silver medallist Nele Moos.
Other top German names who are regulars at the meeting include Niko Kappel, who recently missed his shot put F41 world record by only 3 centimetres at a local event, and Felix Streng, the Tokyo 2020 gold and Paris 2024 bronze in the men’s 100m T64 – and winner of the event at the Golden Gala Pietro Mennea, Rome’s leg of the Diamond League.
