British Rio 2016 athletes honoured by world Para Athletics Championships tickets

London 2017 Ltd on Tuesday (20 September) announced the creation of two special edition World Para Athletics Championships tickets in honour of British athletes’ performances at the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games.

The new tickets were launched following Great Britain and Northern Ireland’s successful track and field performance, with a 33-strong medal haul, beating their London 2012 medal count of 29.

Fans can secure children’s tickets for just GBP 3 in honour of Hannah Cockroft and her superb haul of three gold medals over the 100m, 400m and 800m T34. The ‘Cockroft ticket’ is available across all sessions of the World Para Athletics Championships which take place 14 – 23 July 2017.

In addition, adult tickets for any session can be purchased at GBP 9, in recognition of the nine world records set by British athletes at the Games – including Cockroft’s T34 400m record of 58.78.

The Hannah Cockroft and World Record special edition tickets join those in place for the IAAF World Championships honouring Colin Jackson, Jonathan Edwards, Sally Gunnell and Usain Bolt. They will be available for purchasers until the end of the current World ParaAthletics Championships sale window, which closes on Friday 30 September 2016. Tickets are available to buy now at tickets.london2017athletics.com.

Next summer will bring together 3,300 world-class athletes from more than 200 countries, who will compete in 30 sessions across 20 jam-packed and action-fuelled days as both the World ParaAthletics Championships and the IAAF World Championships are hosted by the same city in the same summer.

Next year’s Championships are gearing up to be the last chance to see world-class athletes such as Richard Whitehead compete, but will also allow the nation a first chance to see a host of new Paralympic champions including Paul Blake, Jo Butterfield, Libby Clegg, Kadeena Cox, Sophie Hahn and Georgie Hermitage in global athletics action.

Paralympic 100m ,400m and 800m T34 champion Hannah Cockroft said: “I am so happy that my Rio performances have been honoured with their own ticket for London 2017.

“It was an amazing performance from the entire team out there and I am so proud to have won medals for my country. It’s so exciting that my ticket will enable more children to come and attend the World Para Athletics Championships next year.

“When I was young I was inspired into taking up sport when I saw a team of wheelchair basketballers in action at my school. If a young person attends London 2017 and takes away that inspiration onto a life of sport I’d be so proud, it would be amazing to think I’d played a part in opening their minds, the way mine was that day at school.

“I was so fortunate to compete in London in 2012 and I cannot wait to get back to the stadium, which holds so many great memories for me. I’m really happy that so many of my team mates will get to experience competing in front of a home crowd. It is going to be a truly special occasion and I hope as many people come out to support us as possible.”

Xavier Gonzalez, CEO of IPC said: “We are thrilled that London 2017 is creating these two special edition tickets in honour of performances in Rio.

“There was some amazing sport in the Paralympics in Rio and we know that British spectators love and appreciate their Paralympic stars. To be able to see them in action on a ‘Hannah Cockroft’ or ‘World record’ ticket is inspiring.

“We know Para athletes will thrive in front of the UK crowd and this is another great way of making sure as many people as possible can experience that amazing atmosphere that we have seen in Rio this summer and London 2012 before it.”