Paris 2025 GP Preview: Ones to watch and how to follow

Paralympic champions are making a return to Paris less than a year after their gold medal triumphs – this time as part of their preparations for the next major event. The Paris World Para Athletics Grand Prix will take place from Monday to Wednesday (2 to 4 June) at Charlety Stadium, marking the third-to-last GP of the season before September’s World Championships in New Delhi, India.

No city other than Paris has ever hosted the World Para Athletics Championships and the Paralympic Games in consecutive years. Charlety Stadium hosted the Worlds in 2023 and has been the home of the Paris GP since its launch in 2017. This June, it will welcome 432 athletes from 60 nations for the WPA Grand Prix.

Few athletes are more familiar with Charlety Stadium and Paris than Dutch star Fleur Jong. She arrives in Paris just two weeks after equalling her long jump T62 world record (6.74m) at the Meeting of L’Hospitalet in Spain.

Fleur is the Paris 2024 Paralympic champion in the women’s 100m T64 and long jump T64. She is not the only gold medallist from the Netherlands at the Grand Prix. Joel de Jong will be making his first appearance in the French capital since his victory in the men’s long jump T63 at last year’s Games. 

Fans seated near the long jump pit will have the chance to watch other Paralympic champions up close, such as Hungary’s Luca Ekler. A Tokyo 2020 gold medallist, she successfully defended her women’s long jump T38 title at Paris 2024.   

Queen of the sands 👑

La Néerlandaise Fleur Jong conserve son titre sur le saut en longueur T64, avec une marque à 6.53 établissant un nouveau record Paralympique 🥇🇳🇱

Bravo Madame ! 👏

📸 Getty#Paris2024 pic.twitter.com/YHvc5WF1jV

— Paris 2024 (@Paris2024) August 31, 2024

Home stars

Fifty-six athletes will represent the host nation, including four who secured podium finishes for France at Paris 2024. 

Timothee Adolphe will compete in the two events where he won medals last year: the men’s 100m T11 and 400m T11. In the 100m, he will once again face Greece’s Paralympic champion, Athanasios Ghavelas, who claimed gold ahead of Adolphe last year. 

Gloria Agblemagnon (women’s shot put F20), Manon Genest (women’s long jump F37) and Antoine Praud (men’s 1500m T46) are the other French medallists set to compete in the GP.

A country with one of the largest communities in the French capital, Algeria is sending a team of 14 athletes to Paris, including Safia Djelal and Nassima Saifi, who won Paralympic gold last year in the women’s shot put F57 and women’s discus F57, respectively.

Tunisia will bring a smaller delegation to France this time, with only three athletes – who, together, boast 12 Paralympic medals. Para athletics legend Raoua Tlili accounts for nine of them, with eight gold medals. 

A five-time gold medallist in the women’s shot put and three-time champion in the discus, the F41 athlete will compete in both events at the Grand Prix. 

Ahmed Ben Moslah, a two-time silver medallist in the men’s shot put F37 at the Games, is another Paris 2024 podium finisher returning to the city this June.

Aymane El Haddaoui is Morocco’s sole competitor in Paris. He will take part in two events as the reigning Paralympic champion in the men’s 400m T47 and the Paris 2024 bronze medallist in the men’s 100m T47. 
Democratic Republic of Congo, Guinea, Libya, Madagascar, Nigeria, Senegal and South Africa are the other African nations sending athletes to the Paris GP.

Guity back to Paris

Five Paralympic champions will be returning to Paris among the 81 athletes from the eight American nations competing at the Grand Prix.

Costa Rica’s Sherman Guity, the Paris 2024 champion in the men’s 100m and 200m T64 events, has recently competed at the Cali Grand Prix and will be one of the stars to watch out for at Charlety Stadium.  

Look at the speed 🫨🇨🇷

This was the moment Sherman Guity struck gold in the Men's 100m T64, breaking the Paralympic record in the process! 👏#Paralympics #Paris2024 pic.twitter.com/AeHDL2ZnmG

— Paralympic Games (@Paralympics) September 9, 2024

With 26 athletes, Mexico has the largest team from the Americas in Paris. The star in the group is Gloria Zarza, the reigning Paralympic champion in the women’s shot put F54

Argentina’s Brian Impellizzeri is the Paris 2024 champion in the men’s long jump T37, and comes to France following his triumph at last week’s GP in Nottwil, Switzerland.

Greg Stewart, the Paris 2024 gold medallist in the men’s shot put F46, leads the 14-strong Canadian delegation. Venezuela’s Enderson Santos is the other Paralympic champion from the Americas coming to Paris. He is the men’s 400m T11 titleholder.

India has the second largest team at the Paris GP with 28 athletes, as the nation gets ready to host the World Para Athletics Championships for the first time.

How to follow

The Paris 2025 World Para Athletics Grand Prix will be streamed on Handisport-Studio TV, Sport en France and YouTube.

Complete schedule and results of the action at Charlety Stadium can be found here.