IPC Publishes London 2012 Athletics Qualification Standards

The International Paralympic Committee (IPC) has published the qualifying standards for the Athletics competitions at the London 2012 Paralympic Games which will get underway in less than 500 days time.

In total there are 170 different medal events broken down to 103 Men’s and 67 Women’s events.

Highlights include the A-standard of 12.20 seconds for the Men’s 100m T44 which is likely to see American World Champion Jerome Singleton go head-to-head with South African World record holder and defending Paralympic champion Oscar Pistorius.

Athletes wanting to compete in the Men’s 100m T13 must also reach an A-standard of 11.50 seconds. The World record currently stands at 10.62 seconds and is held by Irish sprinter Jason Smyth.

Women sprinters in the T11 visually impaired class have been set an A-standard of 13.60 seconds to qualify for the 100m. Brazil’s Terezinha Guilhermina is the current World record holder with a time of 12.13 seconds set earlier this year at the IPC Athletics World Championships in Christchurch, New Zealand.

Marathon racers in the T54 class have been set a target of 1 hour 40 minutes for Men and two hours for Women.

The Men’s T54 marathon is widely anticipated to be one of the races of the Paralympic Games and top racers including Great Britain’s David Weir, Australia’s Kurt Fearnley, Japan’s Masazumi Soejima, Canada’s Josh Cassidy and the Swiss duo of Marcel Hug and Heinz Frei were amongst a group of athletes who all met the qualification time at the recent London and Boston marathons.

In the field, F44 discuss throwers must reach 40m to qualify. Great Britain’s Dan Greaves is the current World record holder after throwing 58.98m in New Zealand in January.

Women’s Long Jumpers F42 must leap 3.40m to be in with a chance of competing in London. Australia’s Kelly Cartwright is the current world’s best with a jump of 4.19m.

The qualifying period for London 2012 officially began on 1 December 2010 and will run until 5 August 2012.

National Paralympic Committee’s can enter a maximum of three eligible athletes per single medal event. For events where classes are combined five athletes from one country can be entered.

Six athletes per National Paralympic Committee can be entered into each marathon event.