With just under four months to go until the 2014 IPC Athletics European Championships in Swansea, GB, the competition schedule for the event has been announced. In total there will be 199 gold medals up for grabs at the Championships which will take place at Swansea University International Sports Village between 18-23 August, attracting 600 star athletes from around 40 countries.

Morning sessions for Wales’ biggest ever para-sport event will take place between 09:00-13:00 and will feature a mixture of heats and finals, whilst afternoon sessions scheduled from 15:30-19:30 will primarily consist of finals and some semi-finals.

The full competition schedule can be found at http://www.paralympic.org/swansea-2014/schedule and is subject to change pending final competition entries.

Highlights of each of the competition days are as follows:

Tuesday 19 August (44 medals events)

• Men’s 100m T44 – an event Great Britain’s Jonnie Peacock is the Paralympic champion in
• Women’s 100m T44 – could feature the world’s fastest female Paralympian Marlou Van Rhijn of the Netherlands and her great rival Marie Amelie Le Fur of France
• Women’s 100m T34 – a race dominated in recent years by Great Britain’s Hannah Cockroft
• Men’s 100m T42 – can Germany’s Heinrich Popow, the world and Paralympic champion retain his European title?
• Women’s discus F52 – Welsh Paralympian Josie Pearson won gold in the event at London 2012 and last year’s World Championships
• Women’s 100m T37 – France’s Mandy Francois-Elie was in blistering form last year winning the world titles in both the 100m and 200m

 Wednesday 20 August (44 medal events)

• Men’s 1,500 T54 – David Weir, Great Britain’s Paralympic champion over this distance could face the current world champion Marcel Hug of Switzerland in what could be a thrilling race
• Women’s club throw F51 – Wales’ Jose Pearson is the current world bronze medallist
• Men’s 100m T13 – Ireland’s Jason Smyth holds the world record at 10.46 seconds
• Women’s 100m T38 – aged just 16, Britain’s Sophie Hahn made a name for herself winning the world title last year

 Thursday 21 August (38 medal events)

• Men’s 200m T42 – Britain’s Richard Whitehead is the current Paralympic, world and European champion, as well as the world record holder
• Men’s shot put F42 – Bridgend born Aled Sion Davies won gold in this event at the 2013 World Championships
• Women’s 200m T12 – could see a rematch between Ukraine’s world champion Oxana Boturchuk and Britain’s silver medallist Libby Clegg
• Women’s 800m T54 – Switzerland’s world silver and bronze medallists Manuela Schaer and Edith Wolf may face stiff competition from Britain’s Jade Jones and Shelly Woods
• Men’s 200m T36 – Evgenii Shvetcov of Russia could be the man to beat. Russia topped the medals table at last year’s World Championships

 Friday 22 August (40 medal events)

• Men’s discus F44 – Dan Greaves, the current British Paralympic and world silver medallist could be a contender for gold
• Women’s 800 T34 – a new distance that will feature at Rio 2016 and one that Hannah Cockroft will be looking to add gold in
• Women’s long jump T44 – France’s Marie Amelie Le Fur and Great Britain’s Stef Reid will hope to be contenders against the Netherlands’s world champion Iris Pruysen
• Men’s 200m T54 – clash of the powerhouses should Dutch world champion Kenny van Weeghel lock horns with Finland’s Leo-Pekka Tahti

Saturday (33 medal events)

• Men’s 5,000m T54 – likely to be the last of many battle in Swansea between Weir and Hug.
• Men’s discus F42 – Davies will be hoping to add the European title to his London 2012 and Lyon 2013 golds
• Women’s shot put F53 – could see Ukraine’s European record holder Svitlana Stetsyuk go head-to-head with Ireland’s Deirdre Mongan
• Relays – no matter the classification, the relays on the final day of competition are always a thrilling spectacle

Tickets for the IPC Athletics European Championships – Swansea 2014 – are now on sale and are available both online at www.swansea2014.com and from local outlets. Tickets are priced at between £3.00-£7.00 per session and around 15,000 are available.

The event is being delivered by Swansea University in partnership with Swansea Council, Disability Sport Wales, British Athletics, Welsh Athletics and the Welsh Government.

Swansea 2014 will be the 4^th IPC Athletics European Championships having previously been held in Stadskanaal, Netherlands, Espoo, Finland and Assen, Netherlands.  The Championships are expected to attract up to 20,000 athletes, officials, spectators and visitors from across Europe. 

Tickets are available from www.swansea2014.com, Swansea City Tourist Information Centre and Penyrheol Leisure Centre.

For more information about the 2014 IPC Athletics European Championships go to www.swansea2014.com