The Sport

The Paralympic competition programme includes sprints, individual pursuits, the 1,000m time trial, road races and road time trials for both individuals and teams.

Athletes participate in World Cups, world and regional Championships throughout the year.

Para cycling is governed by the Union Cyclist International (UCI).

Classes

There are different sport classes for hand cycling, H1-5, where lower numbers indicating restrictions in both upper and lower limbs, and higher numbers indicating restrictions in lower limbs only.

Tricycle athletes are divided into two classes, T1 and T2, with the former being allocated to athletes with more significant co-ordination impairments.

Athletes who are able to use a standard bicycle compete in the five sport classes C1-5, with lower numbers indicating a more severe limitation in lower and/or upper limbs.

Athletes with physical impairments either compete on handcycles, tricycles or bicycles. Athletes with a vision impairment compete on tandems with a sighted “pilot.”

Eligible Impairment Types include Impaired muscle power, Athetosis, Impaired passive range of movement, Hypertonia, Limb deficiency, Ataxia, Leg length difference, Vision Impairment.

History and Paralympic Debut

Road Para cycling made its Paralympic debut at New York/Stoke Mandeville 1984 and has been contested at every Games since.

Track Para cycling entered the Paralympic programme 12 years later at Atlanta 1996.

The sport was developed in the 1980s and was first open to vision impaired athletes who competed in tandems with a sighted pilot.

Over the following years, Para cycling started to include those with cerebral palsy, amputations and other physical impairments, who compete on bicycles, tricycles and hand cycles.

Para cycling at the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games featured 230 athletes who competed in 18 medal events on the track and 33 medal events on the road. After athletics and swimming, it was the sport with most medals up for grabs.

Iran Para Cycling

National Para Cycling competition was administered in 2002 after a year launch of the sport in the country. 2002 also, this sport experienced its first international participation in Germany International Competitions.   

Currently, para athletes are under support of CFI which is member of the NPC to get support.

The passing away of Iranian Para cyclist Bahman Golbarnezhad following an accident on 17 September 2016 road race at the Rio Paralympic Games is considered as one of the most shocking sporting tragedies.

Media

Watch an introduction to Para Cycling on Paralympic Sports A-Z: Cycling