Download new edition of The Paralympian magazine

Explore sport-specific classification, preview the IPC Alpine Skiing and Snowboard World Cups and look back at summer championships in the new edition of The Paralympian. 06 Dec 2013

Slovakian alpine skier Henrieta Farkasova and American snowboarder Evan Strong are expected to star this season, which will culminate with the Sochi 2014 Paralympic Winter Games.

ⒸIPC

By IPC

“With more sporting events taking place, the need for better, more transparent and understandable sport-specific classification has increased and our feature this edition covers all of these areas.”

The final edition of The Paralympian magazine for 2013 was published on Friday (6 December), and it explores sport-specific classification in addition to showcasing outcomes from the IPC General Assembly and Conference, as well as several World and regional Championship sport events.

You can download your copy of the magazine here.

The issue illuminates why sport-specific classification is necessary for the Paralympic Movement, taking readers through the classification process of Belgian wheelchair rugby star Peter Genyn and explaining how athletes are grouped for competition.

IPC President Sir Philip Craven said: “The Movement is now bursting with sport and, even though 2013 has not been a Paralympic year, we have seen a major international event take place every two weeks.

“With more sporting events taking place, the need for better, more transparent and understandable sport-specific classification has increased and our feature this edition covers all of these areas.

“Athletes and classifiers give us their views on the subject and with the second round of consultation for the IPC Classification Code Review set to take place next June, I urge athletes, IPC members, classifiers and other stakeholders to give their feedback whilst they can.”

Sir Philip’s re-election, as well as other outcomes from the General Assembly and the 2013 Paralympic Awards are highlighted in the magazine.

The issue also previews the upcoming IPC Alpine Skiing and Snowboard World Cups, and features a question and answer session with IPC Nordic Skiing rivals Andrea Eskau of Germany and Olena Iurkovska of Ukraine.

Readers can take a look back at the IPC Athletics World Championships, IPC Swimming World Championships, Asian Youth Para-Games and Youth Parapan American Games, as well as several major regional championships.

The “Issue of the season” debates what questions and reporting methods are considered appropriate for broadcasters and journalists when interviewing athletes with an impairment. Both Swedish ice sledge hockey player Niklas Ingvarsson and SVT Sport reporter Rickard Ekman share their views.

The edition concludes with Argentinian table tennis player Aleksy Kaniuka telling readers why Youth Games are important for the development of the Paralympic Movement.