Another Paralympic record holder who will go up against a world record holder will be Fanie Lombard of South Africa. Lombard, who will take part in the Men's Shot Put F42, won the gold medal in this event in Athens with a throw of 13.81m. Darko Kralj of Croatia comes into this competition with a world record of 14.04m won in Croatia in 2008.
Ireland's Michael Mckillop will also be hoping to win a medal and better his world record time of 2:02.13s in the Men's 800m T37 as will Tim Sullivan in the Men's 400m T38 who won gold in Athens (2004) and Sydney (2000). His record-breaking win of 50.30s in Sydney is yet to be beaten.
The Men's 400m T36 also features a world record holder, Artem Aretyev of the Russian Federation, with his score of 55.28 from the last Paralympics. He will be in pursuit of another gold medal but close on his heels will be Athens' silver medalist So Wa-wai of Hong Kong, China.
Other events to look out for will be the Men's 400m T54, featuring David Weir of Great Britain, the world record holder (46.11s) who will go up against Zhang Lixin of China, the Paralympic record holder (46.75s). For the Women's 400m T53, the three fastest qualifiers, all under one minute, are from the United States, Jessica Galli, Cheri Blauwet and Anjali Forber Pratt.
Medals will also be awarded in the Men's 100m T12, 800m T12, 400m T13 and the long distance race on the cards is the Men's 1500m T46.
On the field, there will be the Women's Discus F32-34/51-53, Women's Javelin F35-38, Men's Javelin F11/12 and Men's Long Jump F46.
Classes 11, 12 and 13 cover athletes with different levels of visual impairment. Classes 32-34 cover athletes in wheelchair with different levels of cerebral palsy while classes 35-38 cover ambulant athletes with different levels of cerebral palsy. Classes 51-58 cover athletes in wheelchair with different levels of spinal cord injuries and amputations and class 40-46 covers athletes with different levels of amputations and other disabilities including les Autres, eg. dwarfism.
(BOCOG September 10, 2008)