By: Michael Xia

The paralympics in 2028 will include a new sport

Para climbing will make its first Olympic appearance in 2028 at Los Angeles in the US. Now the paralympic game will have 23 different sports. Para climbing is a fast pace and exhilarating sport.

Para-climbing is the fifth new sport to be added in the last 12 years, but the Los Angeles 2028 team is the first organizing committee to request for an additional sport at the Games.

Paraclimbers, who are also referred to as adaptive climbers, are athletes who climb with an impairment. Impairments can include a leg or arm amputation, a visual impairment, a neurological or muscular disorder, partial paralysis, and many other conditions.

In order to have competition which is as fair as possible, athletes are put into categories to group them by the nature of their disability. So blind athletes shall not climb against those who are sitting in a wheelchair.

The classification system defines who is eligible to compete in paraclimbing and groups athletes with eligible impairments into sports classes. Athletes are placed into a sport class based on how much their impairment affects their ability to carry out the fundamental activities in paraclimbing.

The IFSC has been hosting paraclimbing competitions since the first international event in 2006 in Ekaterinburg, Russia. The sport grew, and a regular circuit was added to the IFSC calendar from 2010. IFSC Paraclimbing World Championships have taken place since 2011.

So get ready for the paralympics.