Valledupar 2026: Para athletics preview, stars to watch and how to follow

Two-time Paralympic champion Karen Palomeque will headline Colombia’s Para athletics delegation at the home Para South American Games in Valledupar, joined by five fellow Paris 2024 medallists.
This is the second edition of the Games, returning 12 years after the inaugural event in Santiago, Chile.

Para athletics will award 80 gold medals at the Jose Luis Parada Athletics Stadium from 12 to 15 July.

Palomeque, the Paris 2024 champion in the women’s 100m and 400m T38 and double world champion in New Delhi 2025 (200m T38 and 400m T38), leads a strong host nation squad. She will compete alongside reigning Paralympic champions Jhon Obando (men’s 400m T20) and Mauricio Valencia, a five-time Paralympic medallist who won Paris gold in the men’s shot put F34.

Other standout Colombian athletes include Xiomara Saldarriaga, Paris bronze medallist in the women’s discus F38 and recent world record-breaker at the Meeting de L’Hospitalet in Spain, and Diego Meneses, who claimed bronze in Paris and silver at New Delhi 2025 in the men’s javelin F34.

From Laureus to Valledupar

Argentina, Brazil, Ecuador and Venezuela will also bring several Paralympic champions to Valledupar.

Ecuador’s Kiara Rodríguez, the first athlete from her country nominated for the Laureus World Sports Awards (2026), is one of the stars of the Games. A double Paralympic champion in Paris (women’s 100m T47 and long jump T47), she completed a golden hat-trick at the New Delhi 2025 Worlds, highlighted by her 200m T47 world record of 24.34—breaking a 13-year-old mark set by Cuba’s Yunidis Castillo at London 2012.

Stepping onto the red carpet in style! Kiara Rodriguez at last night’s @laureussport 👑#ParaAthletics #Laureus26 pic.twitter.com/XViP2O3OdV

— Para Athletics (@ParaAthletics) April 21, 2026

Argentina’s 30-athlete delegation features three Paris 2024 medallists: Brian Impellizzeri (gold, men’s long jump T37), Alexis Chávez (silver and bronze, men’s 100m and 400m T36) and Fernando Vázquez (bronze, men’s long jump T12).

Brazil will field 47 Para athletics athletes, the largest contingent in the sport. Leading the team is Fernanda Yara, the Paris 2024 women’s 400m T47 champion, alongside bronze medallists Ariosvaldo Fernandes da Silva (men’s 100m T54) and Cicero Nobre (men’s javelin F57).

Two athletes from the inaugural 2014 Games return: Joao Victor Teixeira (F37), a double Paralympic medallist from Tokyo 2020, and Renato Caetano (T12).

Brazil’s most decorated Para athletics Paralympian in Valledupar, however, will compete in a different sport. Jerusa Geber, the two-time Paralympic champion and fastest woman ever in the 100m T11, is racing in Para cycling after taking on the new discipline in 2024. She has confirmed she will continue in Para athletics with the goal of defending her title at LA28.

Despite the challenges posed by the recent devasting earthquake in the country, Venezuela succeeded in sending its full delegation. Among the 27 athletes in Para athletics are Naibys Morillo, reigning Paralympic champion in the women’s javelin F46, and Enderson Santos, Paris gold medallist in the men’s 400m T11.

Chile (11 athletes), Panama (nine), Paraguay (one), Peru (seven) and Uruguay (two) complete the Para athletics field.

In total, the Valledupar Para South American Games will gather 1,120 athletes from 12 countries across 13 Para sports.

How to follow

The Para South American Games will be streamed live on Inravision, Colombia’s National Public Service broadcaster, via YouTube.

Updates and information will also be available on the Valledupar 2026 and Americas Paralympic Committee channels.

Valledupar, capital of the department of Cesar, sits in northern Colombia in the Caribbean region, on the banks of the Guatapuri River and at the foot of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta mountaing range. The city blends tradition, history and nature, and has become a cultural and sporting reference point in the country.