Athletics preview

In the field events, you will not want to miss the highly anticipated discus F44 final between the host nation’s hero and defending world champion Dan Greaves and USA’s current world-record holder and defending Paralympic champion Jeremy Campbell.

Dates: 31 August – 9 September

Venue: Olympic Stadium

Number of Athletes: 1,100

Medal Events: 170

Ones to Watch: Kurt Fearnley (Australia), Evan O’Hanlon (Australia), Kelly Cartwright (Australia), Terezinha Guilhermina (Brazil), Shirlene Coelho (Brazil), Michelle Stilwell (Canada), Heinrich Popow (Germany), Dan Greaves (Great Britain), David Weir (Great Britain), Jonnie Peacock (Great Britain), Jason Smyth (Ireland), Oscar Pistorius (South Africa), Marcel Hug (Switzerland), April Holmes (USA), Jerome Singleton (USA), Tatyana McFadden (USA), Jarryd Wallace (USA)

Everybody knows the athletics competition will be the most-watched and highlighted portion of the London 2012 Paralympic Games.

You have probably heard a million times by now that the men’s 100m T43/44 final on 6 September has been deemed the race of the Games, with an expected lineup that includes defending Paralympic champion Oscar Pistorius, world champion Jerome Singleton and new world-record holder Jonnie Peacock.

“I’ve gone almost a full second quicker in 12 months, from running 11.63 at the World Championships in January last year to 10.85,” Peacock said.

Jason Smyth will try to defend his title as the fastest Paralympian on the planet in the men’s 100m T13, while Evan O’Hanlon is the clear favourite in the 100m and 200m T38 events.

The three-man rivalry of David Weir, Marcel Hug and Kurt Fearnley in the men’s T54 class could make for several storylines, beginning with the 5,000m final on 2 September. Hug is the world-record holder in the 800m, 1,500m and 5,000m distances, but Weir is the reigning world champion in all three and Fearnley won two silvers and a bronze in the events in Beijing.

In the field events, you will not want to miss the highly anticipated discus F44 final between the host nation’s hero and defending world champion Dan Greaves and USA’s current world-record holder and defending Paralympic champion Jeremy Campbell.

The winner will most likely have to throw over 60m for gold in London.

“Confidence is really high at the moment,” Greaves said. “I went from the demise in Beijing to winning the world champs and now getting close to 60m, which has been a great uplift.”

On the women’s side, Tatyana McFadden will race for gold in five events in the T54 class, and she could be favoured to win all of them. Michelle Stilwell has been deemed the next Chantal Petitclerc for Canada on the wheelchair racing circuit and Kelly Cartwright will look to carry over her 100m T42 and long jump F42 world titles to the Paralympic stage for Australia.

Do not blink or you may miss Terezinha Guilhermina in her bid for gold in the 100m, 200m and 400m T11 events. “It has been four years of preparation and adrenaline accumulation,” Guilhermina said. “I want to head to London and come back with the title of the fastest blind woman in the world.”

The visually impaired sprinter is the reigning world champion in all of her events and will be joined at the Olympic Stadium by her compatriot and favourite for the javelin F37, Shirlene Coelho.