Official Paralympic flame lighting ceremony takes place in Aylesbury ahead of Paris Games

Stoke Mandeville Stadium is hosting an official flame lighting event to mark the start of the 2024 Paralympic Games in Paris.

From next Wednesday (28 August), the best disabled athletes in the world will be racing, swimming, and clashing in teams sports, showcasing what people with impairments are still capable of.

Taking place on Saturday (24 August), the Aylesbury ceremony will recognise the key role Stoke Mandeville has played in launching the games.

In 1948, against the backdrop of the summer Olympics taking place in nearby London, the first ever organised event for athletes with disabilities took place in Stoke Mandeville.

German-British neurologist, Ludwig Guttmann, who was working at the Bucks health facility at the time, organised wheelchair competitions for people receiving treatment for spinal injuries under his care.

As word of these wheelchair competitions spread, eventually athletes from other nations came over to take part, and one event held in 1960, was later classified as the first ever Paralympics.

Last year, Stoke Mandeville was named as the official home of the Paralympic flame, matching the honour bestowed on Olympia where the Olympic flame resides.

WheelPower, a national charity supporting wheelchair sports based at the Aylesbury stadium, confirmed the event would not be open to the public.

Previous flame-igniting ceremonies held in Stoke Mandeville have seen Paralympic icons completing the torch lighting, like gold medallists Hannah Cockcroft and Tanni Grey-Thompson.

Upon announcing Stoke Mandeville as the official home of the Paralympic flame, last year International Paralympic Committee president, Andrew Parsons, said: "It is fitting that 75 years on from those historic first Stoke Mandeville Games we are announcing that Stoke Mandeville will play an even greater role in all future editions of the Paralympic Games.

"The Paralympic Movement owes Stoke Mandeville and Sir Ludwig Guttmann a huge debt of gratitude.”

Organisers are expecting 65,000 visitors for the Paralympic opening ceremony which takes place along the Champs-Elysees. This years 4,400 competitors will be seen moving along the north bank of the river Seine, before the races and matches begin.