Almost five years since London 2012 introduced the wider public to the delights of disability sport, the city’s world-class athletics venue is the setting for what is being lauded as another major push in the right direction for the Paralympic movement. When the World Para Athletics Championships begin at the London Stadium on Friday morning, the memories of Jonnie Peacock’s lightning runs, David Weir’s awesome endurance and Hannah Cockroft’s unstoppable charges for the line will come flooding back, inducing a warm glow of nostalgia and hope for the stories that will be written over the next 10 days of competition.
Great Britain’s 49-strong squad feature familiar faces, including Peacock and Cockroft – although not Weir after the wheelchair racer’s angry retirement from track racing last September – and newer ones such as Kadeena Cox, the brilliant sprinter and cyclist who made Paralympic history in Rio last year by becoming the first British Paralympian to top the podium in two different sports since 1984. The presence of four debutants in the team shows disability sport in Britain continues to grow in strength after ParalympicsGB won 147 medals to finish second behind China in Rio.
Related: World Para Athletics Championships: who to watch at London 2017
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