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Word: This story first appeared on our sister web site, CyclingTips.com. You possibly can 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 way of Sunday, September 5.
Right here’s a information to understanding the foundations, classes, and classifications for the para biking occasions.
The classifications
To grasp 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 possibly can 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 twine damage)
- Impaired passive vary of motion
- Limb deficiency (e.g. a number of amputations)
- Leg size distinction
- Hypertonia: a rise in muscle stress and the decreased capability 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 sluggish involuntary actions (e.g. through cerebral palsy, traumatic mind damage, or a stroke)
- Imaginative and prescient impairment (decreased or no imaginative and prescient)
There are minimal impairment standards that an athlete should attain in an effort to be eligible for paracycling classification, and standardized assessments that officers use when classifying riders (see web page 34 o the UCI tips for more information). Completely different ranges of impairment correspond with completely different courses, with decrease numbers indicating a higher degree of impairment.
As you’ll see beneath, 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 greater 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 journey tricycles, attributable to decreased steadiness and/or a extreme restriction that stops them from using a bicycle.
The T1 class is for athletes with extra vital coordination impairments, whereas T2 athletes have much less vital impairments.
C 1-5
Division C athletes journey a regular bicycle, typically modified to accommodate their impairment(s). As an example, an athlete with an arm impairment may use otherwise 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 journey a tandem bike piloted by a sighted athlete. Tandem pilots should not be a part of a UCI-registered group, 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 completely different courses and the place riders’s occasions are scaled in an effort to keep in mind the severity of every competitor’s impairment(s). The objective is to make sure fairness between courses.
Some athletes may have their outcomes ‘factored’, whereas others won’t. The gold medal in such occasions is handed to the rider with the quickest time in spite of everything occasions have been factored.
For example, listed here are the elements that apply to Division C street biking occasions (yow will discover tables for different divisions in part 16.1.005 of the UCI’s Paracycling rules).
Within the girls’s C 1-2-3 time trial in Tokyo, for instance, C3 girls will get no matter time they journey towards the clock. C2 girls can 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 spite of everything these calculations will win gold.
One quirk of this method is {that a} rider can break a world file for his or her particular class, however not win the occasion. Word that whereas a while trials are factored occasions, the equal street races usually are not.
Highway races and time trials
Right here’s the complete schedule of street biking medal occasions on the Tokyo Paralympics.
Highway races:
And beneath is a breakdown of all of the street races by class.
| Males | Ladies | Combined |
| H 1-2 street race
H 3 street race H4 street race C 1-2-3 street race C 4-5 street race B street race T 1-2 street race |
H 1-2-3-4 street race
H5 street race C 1-2-3- street race C 4-5 street race B street race T 1-2 street race |
H 1-5 group relay |
All street races (besides the blended group 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 street races can be held between Wednesday, September 1 and Friday, September 3.
Time trials
All courses will race on an undulating 8km time trial course throughout the Fuji Worldwide Speedway advanced. As with the street races, the variety of laps will rely upon the category. All time trials can be held on Tuesday, August 31.
| Males | Ladies |
| 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 group relay can 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 group. 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 group 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 group relay can be held on Thursday, September 2.
Monitor biking
Listed below are all the monitor biking medal occasions that’ll be occurring on the 250-meter Izu Velodrome.
| Males | Ladies | 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 varied 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 (customary 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 monitor. 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 group 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 monitor biking occasions can be held from Wednesday, August 25 to Saturday, August 28. Observe the hyperlink for a full schedule of monitor biking occasions on the Tokyo Paralympics for extra data.
