Paralympic track cycling is now just two days away with all the action taking place between Thursday August 1 and Sunday September 2. The 2012 Track events are made up of: Men’s Individual Sprint (B), Individual Pursuit (B, C1-5), Men’s Individual 1km TT (B, C1-5), Women’s Individual Pursuit (B, C1-5), Women’s Individual 1km TT, Women’s Individual 500m TT (C1-5) and the Mixed Team Sprint (C1-5).
The classifications for Paralympians can initially seem complex, but they aim to group athletes by classes, ‘defined by the degree to which they are limited in their ability to perform activities within that sport’, a unique element of the Paralympics designed to level the playing field and ensure ‘fair competition’. With cycling (both track and road) these classes also define which type of cycle is used for competition: tricyle, handcycle, tandem. The six categories relevant to the track events for 2012 are B and C1-C5 which are defined as:
B – Athletes with a visual impairment who compete on a tandem with a sighted pilot on the front.
C1-C5 – Athletes with an impairment that affects their legs, arms and/or trunk but compete using a standard bicycle, with the lower the athlete’s class number, the greater the impact of their impairment on their ability to cycle.
