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Word: This story first appeared on our sister web site, CyclingTips.com. You may learn CyclingTips’ full protection of the Paralympics Video games right here.
With the Tokyo Olympics now full, it’s time for the world’s greatest para athletes to take middle stage. The Tokyo Paralympics started on Tuesday, August 24, and runs by Sunday, September 5.
Right here’s a information to understanding the foundations, classes, and classifications for the para biking occasions.
The classifications
To know the dizzying array of medal occasions on the Paralympics, you first want to know paracycling classifications.
In paracycling, athletes are divided into ‘sport courses’ in response to the kind and severity of their impairment(s). You may see an in depth breakdown of relevant impairments on web page 33 of this UCI doc, however in essence, there are eight impairments that make an athlete eligible for paracycling:
- Impaired muscle energy (e.g. attributable to a spinal wire damage)
- Impaired passive vary of motion
- Limb deficiency (e.g. a number of amputations)
- Leg size distinction
- Hypertonia: a rise in muscle rigidity and the diminished skill of a muscle to stretch, attributable to harm to the central nervous system (e.g. through cerebral palsy, traumatic mind damage, or a stroke)
- Ataxia: uncoordinated actions attributable to harm to the central nervous system (e.g. through cerebral palsy, traumatic mind damage, or a stroke)
- Athetosis: continuous gradual involuntary actions (e.g. through cerebral palsy, traumatic mind damage, or a stroke)
- Imaginative and prescient impairment (diminished or no imaginative and prescient)
There are minimal impairment standards that an athlete should attain to be able to be eligible for paracycling classification, and standardized exams that officers use when classifying riders (see web page 34 o the UCI tips for more information). Completely different ranges of impairment correspond with totally different courses, with decrease numbers indicating a higher stage of impairment.
As you’ll see under, some courses race collectively whereas others have their very own medal occasion.
Listed below are the biking courses you’ll see in motion in Tokyo.
H 1-5
Division H occasions are contested by handcyclists. Decrease numbers (e.g. H1 and H2) point out athletes with restrictions to each higher and decrease limbs, whereas increased numbers (e.g. H4 and H5) point out restrictions to their higher limbs solely.
Athletes in courses H1-4 race on recumbent (i.e. reclined) bikes whereas H5 athletes use bikes that facilitate a kneeling or sitting place.
T 1-2
Division T races are contested by athletes who trip tricycles, attributable to diminished steadiness and/or a extreme restriction that forestalls them from using a bicycle.
The T1 class is for athletes with extra important coordination impairments, whereas T2 athletes have much less important impairments.
C 1-5
Division C athletes trip a regular bicycle, usually modified to accommodate their impairment(s). As an illustration, an athlete with an arm impairment may use in a different way formed handlebars.
Decrease-numbered courses (e.g. C1-2) point out a extra extreme limitation in decrease and/or higher limbs.
B
Division B is for vision-impaired athletes who trip a tandem bike piloted by a sighted athlete. Tandem pilots should not be a part of a UCI-registered workforce, and should not have been a part of a WorldTeam or ProTeam for the earlier 12 months.
Factored occasions
Factored occasions are those who embrace athletes from totally different courses and the place riders’s instances are scaled to be able to have in mind the severity of every competitor’s impairment(s). The objective is to make sure fairness between courses.
Some athletes could have their outcomes ‘factored’, whereas others is not going to. The gold medal in such occasions is handed to the rider with the quickest time in any case instances have been factored.
For example, listed here are the components that apply to Division C highway biking occasions (you could find tables for different divisions in part 16.1.005 of the UCI’s Paracycling laws).
Within the girls’s C 1-2-3 time trial in Tokyo, for instance, C3 girls will get no matter time they trip in opposition to the clock. C2 girls might be given a time that’s 96.15 p.c of their ending time, and for C1 girls that share is 92.45 p.c. The rider with the bottom time in any case these calculations will win gold.
One quirk of this method is {that a} rider can break a world report for his or her particular class, however not win the occasion. Word that whereas a while trials are factored occasions, the equal highway races are usually not.
Street races and time trials
Right here’s the complete schedule of highway biking medal occasions on the Tokyo Paralympics.
Street races:
And under is a breakdown of all of the highway races by class.
| Males | Girls | Combined |
| H 1-2 highway race
H 3 highway race H4 highway race C 1-2-3 highway race C 4-5 highway race B highway race T 1-2 highway race |
H 1-2-3-4 highway race
H5 highway race C 1-2-3- highway race C 4-5 highway race B highway race T 1-2 highway race |
H 1-5 workforce relay |
All highway races (besides the blended workforce relay) will happen on the identical 13.2km circuit that begins and finishes on the Fuji Worldwide Speedway. It’s a lumpy circuit, outlined by a 3.5km climb to the end line.
The variety of laps will range between courses. All highway races might be held between Wednesday, September 1 and Friday, September 3.
Time trials
All courses will race on an undulating 8km time trial course inside the Fuji Worldwide Speedway advanced. As with the highway races, the variety of laps will depend upon the category. All time trials might be held on Tuesday, August 31.
| Males | Girls |
| H 1 ITT
H 2 ITT H 3 ITT H 4 ITT H 5 ITT C 1 ITT C 2 ITT C 3 ITT C 4 ITT B ITT T 1-2 ITT (Factored) |
H 1-2-3 ITT (Factored)
H 4-5 ITT (Factored) C 1-2-3 ITT (Factored) C 4 ITT C 5 ITT B ITT T 1-2 ITT (Factored)
|
Group relay
The blended workforce relay might be contested by groups of three handcyclists. Every rider will full three laps of a flattish 2.8 km Fuji Speedway course, for a complete of 9 laps per workforce. Riders two and three might begin their laps when the earlier rider crosses the end line.
Group composition is ruled by a factors system, with athletes allotted factors primarily based on their gender and impairment(s). Every workforce of three should solely have a most of 9 factors, and should embrace an athlete with a most rating of two factors. Right here’s the course and profile for the blended relay. The blended workforce relay might be held on Thursday, September 2.
Observe biking
Listed below are the entire observe biking medal occasions that’ll be taking place on the 250-meter Izu Velodrome.
| Males | Girls | Combined |
| C 1-2-3 Kilo (Factored)
C 4-5 Kilo (Factored) C 1 Pursuit C 2 Pursuit C 3 Pursuit C 4 Pursuit C 5 Pursuit B Kilo B Pursuit
|
C 1-2-3 500m (Factored)
C 4-5 500m (Factored) C 1-2-3 Pursuit C 4 Pursuit C 5 Pursuit B Kilo B Pursuit |
C 1-5 Group Dash |
Right here’s a breakdown of the assorted disciplines and what they entail:
The ‘Kilo’
A 1km (four-lap) time trial contested by Division B (vision-impaired) women and men, and Division C (commonplace bicycle) males. Division C girls contest this self-discipline over 500 meters (two laps).
Pursuit
A person pursuit, with two riders beginning on opposites sides of the observe. First throughout the end line wins. Division B males and C4-5 women and men race over 4,000 meters. C1-3 women and men, plus Division B girls all race over 3,000m.
Group dash
Raced by mixed-gender groups of three Division C riders over three laps. After every lap, the lead rider peels off, permitting the remaining rider(s) to proceed on to the road.
A workforce is allowed a most of 10 factors when deciding on its line-up, with riders allotted factors in response to their gender and impairment(s).
All observe biking occasions might be held from Wednesday, August 25 to Saturday, August 28. Observe the hyperlink for a full schedule of observe biking occasions on the Tokyo Paralympics for extra info.