IF THE 2024 OLYMPICS taught us anything, it’s that it’s nearly impossible to catch all the best moments of a major international sporting event that crams hundreds of events into a two-week window. Especially when that event takes place in a grossly incompatible time zone. But if you thought it was hard to stay up to date during the Olympics, just wait until we tell you about the Paralympics.
The 2024 Paris Paralympics will squeeze 549 medal events (an increase on the Olympics’ 329) into just 11 days of competition. Attempting to watch all of those events, most of which will take place in the middle of the Australian night, is a daunting prospect. But with what we expect to be a massive gold-medal haul from the Australian athletes, there are plenty of moments you simply can’t afford to miss.
For that reason, selecting the events you’re going to watch is an important task. You don’t want to commit to staying up past 12am or waking up at 4am unless it’s going to be worth it, but you also don’t want to risk missing out on a magical moment.
To put your mind at ease, we’ve hand-picked the Games’ headliners, so you can get your priorities straight. All dates and times are in AEST.
August 29th
Para-swimming heats – 5:30pm
Wheelchair rugby pool stage, Australia vs Great Britain – 7:30pm
August 30th
Men’s wheelchair basketball pool stage, Australia vs Netherlands – 5:30am
Men’s 400m freestyle, S9 final – 1:30am
Australian flagbearer Brendan Hall is a two-time gold medallist in this event.
Women’s 400m freestyle, S9 final – 1:40am
Lakeisha Patterson won gold in this event in Tokyo three years ago.
Men’s 50m freestyle, S10 final – 3:41am
Rowan Crothers won gold in this event in Tokyo. Thomas Gallagher is also a chance at a medal.
Men’s wheelchair tennis, round 1 – 8:00pm
Aussies Anderson Parker and Ben Weekes will both be in action.
Men’s Javelin, F38 final – 8:09pm
Corey Anderson won gold in the F38 javelin back at the 2019 world championships with a world record throw.
Men’s wheelchair basketball pool stage, Australia vs Spain – 8:45pm
Women’s track cycling, C4 individual pursuit final – 11:35pm
If all goes according to plan, Tokyo gold medallist Emily Petricola will once again race for gold here.
INSTAGRAM | @rowan.crothers
August 31st
Wheelchair rugby pool stage, Australia vs France – 3:30am
Men’s 5000m T13 final – 6:10pm
Jaryd Clifford fell agonisingly short of a gold medal in this event at the last Olympics. Can he take the top honour here? We’d back him to do so.
Women’s 5000, T54 final – 6:36pm
A dual gold medallist in Tokyo, Madison de Rozario can cement her legacy in Paris.
Wheelchair rugby pool stage, Australia vs Denmark – 9:30pm
Men’s track cycling, C1-3 time trial – 10:02pm
Darren Hicks won this event at the last Paralympics. He has a solid chance of doing it again.
Men’s track cycling, C5 individual pursuit final – 11:21pm
Alistair Donohoe is a four-time Paralympic medallist but he’s yet to capture that elusive gold. Hopefully that changes here.
Women’s track cycling, C1-3 time trial final – 11:35pm
Amanda Reid is returning to defend her Tokyo gold medal in this event.
INSTAGRAM | @alistairdonohoe
September 1st
Men’s wheelchair basketball pool stage, Australia vs USA – 6:30pm
PR3 mixed double sculls final – 8:10pm
The Aussie duo blew away their competition to win gold at last year’s world championships.
September 2nd
Mixed 4x100m freestyle relay, S14 final – 1:30am
Men’s 150m individual medley, SM3 final – 3:20am
Ahmed Kelly is the reigning world champion in this event.
Men’s 100m T34 final – 6:00pm
Rheed McCracken has won silver in this event for the last three Paralympics in a row. He could finally crack the gold here.
INSTAGRAM | @aussie_rollers
September 3rd
Women’s 50m freestyle, S13 final – 2:47am
Katja Dedekind has won gold at the last two world championships and it’s hard to see her missing out on the top spot here.
Men’s javelin, F64 final – 3:00am
A silver medallist at the last Olympics and 2023 world championships, Michael Burian will hope he can find a way to the top of the podium.
Men’s 1500m T13 final – 6:00pm
Jaryd Clifford took bronze in this event in Tokyo. He’ll be hoping to finish even higher up the podium in Paris.
Men’s 400m T36 final – 7:55pm
James Turner will look to defend his gold medal from Tokyo.
Women’s 1500m T54 final – 8:19pm
A dual gold medallist in Tokyo, Madison de Rozario can cement her legacy in Paris.
INSTAGRAM | @jarydclifford
September 5th
Women’s 100m freestyle, S9 final – 3:35am
About as close to a gold medal lock as you can get, Alexa Leary won this event by more than two seconds at the 2023 world championships.
September 6th
Men’s 200m individual medley, SM9 final – 2:31am
Timothy Hodge is a multiple-time world champion in the SM9 IM. He’ll be hard to beat in Paris.
Women’s T63 long jump final – 3:00am
Vanessa Low won gold in this event in Tokyo and is the red-hot favourite to repeat.
September 7th
Men’s 100m backstroke, S14 final – 3:04am
Can anyone unseat Benjamin Hance as the king of the S14 100m backstroke? We doubt it.
Women’s 50m freestyle, S4 final – 4:03am
Rachael Watson is going for her third consecutive Paralympic gold medal in this event.
September 8th
Mixed 4x100m freestyle relay, 34 points final – 1:30am
Men’s 1500m T38 final – 3:00am
Reece Langdon and Angus Hincksman won silver and bronze at last year’s world championships. Australia would be unlucky to miss the medals here.
Women’s 400m T38 final – 4:32am
A silver medallist at the 2023 world championships, Rhiannon Clarke could become a gold medallist on the last day of the Games.
Women’s T54 marathon – 4:00pm
This will be Madison de Rozario’s final event on a busy schedule.
INSTAGRAM | @reece_langdon
Related:
Everything you need to know about the 2024 Paralympics
At his sixth Paralympics, Tristan Knowles will give it all he’s got
Paralympic swimmer Rowan Crothers won’t stop exceeding expectations
