The World Para Athletics Championships, known as the IPC Athletics World Championships prior to 2017, are a biennial Paralympic athletics event organized by World Para Athletics, a subcommittee of the International Paralympic Committee (IPC). It features athletics events contested by athletes with physical disabilities. The first IPC Athletics World Championships were held in Berlin, Germany in 1994.[1]
They are a Paralympic parallel to the World Athletics Championships for able-bodied athletes. Since 2011, when they switched from a quadrennial scheduling to biennial, the IPC championships have been held in the same years as the IAAF championships, although they are separate events and are not necessarily held in the same host city. In 2017, London, which previously hosted the 2012 Summer Paralympics, became the first city to host both the IAAF World Championships and World Para Athletics Championships in the same year and as connected events.[2][3][4]
11-13: visually impaired, 11 and 12 compete with a sighted guide
20: intellectual disability
31-38: cerebral palsy or other conditions that affect muscle co-ordination and control. Athletes in class 31-34 compete in a seated position; athletes in class 35-38 compete standing.
40-41: small athletes.
42-43: impaired muscular power (without prosthesis) in the legs.
