LA28 Paralympic Games medal event programme and athlete quotas confirmed

The International Paralympic Committee (IPC) confirmed the medal events and athlete quotas for the LA28 Paralympic Games on Tuesday (3 June).

With regards to the 22 sports that were included by the IPC Governing Board in the initial sport programme for LA28 in January 2023, there will be 552 medal events and a total of 4,400 athlete quota places – the same number of quota places as for Paris 2024 and Tokyo 2020.

Across the 22 sports, there will be 243 medal events for female athletes (44 per cent), eight more than for Paris 2024, while the number of medal events for male athletes has been reduced by eight to 263 (48 per cent). The number of open or mixed gender medal events has increased by three to 46 (eight per cent).

Of the 4,400 athlete quota places available across the 22 sports initially included, 1,967 are for female Para athletes (45 per cent), 107 more than for Paris 2024. There will be 2,228 quota slots for male Para athletes (51 per cent), 27 more than Paris 2024, and 205 gender-free slots (five per cent), a reduction of 134 places.

For the second successive Paralympic Games, the men’s and women’s medal events in goalball, sitting volleyball and wheelchair basketball will each feature eight teams. Eight teams will also contest the blind football and wheelchair rugby competitions.

Para climbing, a sport proposed by the Organising Committee and approved by the IPC Governing Board to make its Paralympic debut at LA28, will have eight medal events (four male and four female) and have a maximum of 10 athletes contesting each medal event.

With Para climbing’s inclusion in LA28 as a 23rd sport, a record 17 sports will have gender parity in terms of their medal event programmes. Sixteen sports will offer an equal number of quota places to male and female athletes, the most ever, with six new sports achieving this compared to Paris 2024.

The full list of medal events and athlete quotas can be found here.

Andrew Parsons, IPC President, said: “Finalising the medal event programme and athlete quotas for a Paralympic Games is always a complex exercise and LA28 was no different. We believe the final medal event programme will ensure world class sporting action across all 23 sports, drive efficiencies for the organisers, and provide clarity for National Paralympic Committees to finalise their preparations and performance programmes for LA28. 

“We are grateful to all the International Federations who collaborated on this process. With the addition of Para climbing, the result is not just the largest medal event programme and most-gender balanced athlete quota in the history of the Paralympic Games, but one that also represents the pinnacle of Para sport to serve as the core for transformational Games.”

The International Federations of the 22 sports included on the programme initially approved by the IPC in January 2023 put forward proposals to include a total of 598 medal events in the LA28 Paralympic Games, with 13 International Federations looking to increase their respective number of medal events compared to Paris 2024. The 22 International Federations also requested a total of 4,811 athlete quota places, 411 places more than the maximum number allowed to compete at a Paralympic Games.

The LA28 Paralympic Games will take place between 15-27 August 2028.

LA28 Paralympic Games medal event programme (including Para climbing)

•  Numbers in brackets denote changes compared to Paris 2024.

LA28 Paralympic Games athlete quotas (including Para climbing)

• Numbers in brackets denote changes compared to Paris 2024