Sport week: Three sailing storylines for Rio 2016

The 2.4m Norlin OD one-person keelboat, the SKUD28 two-person keelboat and the Sonar three-person keelboat will be the sailing classes contested at the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games between 7-18 September.

The 2.4m Norlin OD likely to be a four-horse regatta

France’s Athens 2004 gold medallist Damien Seguin won his fourth world title last year and is considered by many as the strongest favourite to top the podium at Rio 2016. But he finished second at last May’s Worlds behind Germany’s Sydney 2000 champion Heiko Kroeger. Great Britain’s world No. 1 and reigning Paralympic champion Helena Lucas and Australia’s Matthew Bugs, who won this year’s Hyeres World Cup, will also pose huge threats.

Can the Australian duo be stopped in the SKUD18?

Dan Fitzgibbon and Liesl Tesch claimed gold at London 2012, then took a short break and returned in 2014 to win two world titles and multiple World Cups. But Poland’s Monika Gibes and Piotr Cichocki came first at this year’s World Championships, beating this seemingly invincible Australian duo and showing outstanding form ahead of Rio 2016.

Great Britain’s three-time Paralympian sonar crew seeks its first Paralympic medal

After competing at three consecutive Paralympic Games, John Robertson, Hannah Stodel and Stephen Thomas are ready to seal their first Paralympic medal. In 2015, they won their first world title, and added silver at the 2016 World Championships. But USA’s Alphonsus Doerr, Bradley Kendell and Hugh Freund, Australia’s Colin Harrison, Jonathan Harris and Russell Boaden, and Norway’s Aleksander Wang-Hansen, Marie Solberg and Per Eugen Kristiansen will be also fighting to reach the podium at September’s Paralympics.

Editor’s note: Each sport on the Rio 2016 Paralympic programme will have a dedicated week of featured content published on paralympic.org. Every week a new sport will be featured and the series will run until September’s Games, helping the public understand more about the 22 sports being contested in Rio.

__

Sport fans from around the world can now buy their Paralympic tickets for Rio 2016 from authorised ticket resellers (ATRs)

The IPC’s Global ATR is Jet Set Sports, and Rio 2016 tickets and packages can be purchased on the CoSport website.

Residents of Brazil can buy 2016 Paralympics tickets directly from the Rio 2016 website.

Visa International is the exclusive payment card and the official payment system for the Paralympic Games.