Competing with greater impairment: age distribution and competitive outcomes in Paralympic athletes with high support needs

This study examined the age distribution of Paralympic athletes with high support needs at the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games, analyzing differences according to sex, competitive achievement, and discipline. A total of 1,263 athletes from eight individual sports were included. Between-group comparisons were conducted using the Mann–Whitney U and the Kruskal–Wallis test with Bonferroni post hoc , while Chi-square tests assessed associations between age categories at the 5% level. Male athletes had a higher median age than female athletes (33 vs. 29 years; p < 0.001), whereas no difference was observed between medalists and non-medalists ( p = 0.62). Significant variation in age was observed across disciplines ( p < 0.001), with Para archery (40 years), Para table tennis (42 years), and Para equestrian (37 years) showing the highest median ages, while Para swimming (26 years) had the youngest median age. Age category analysis indicated a predominance of athletes aged 30 or older, particularly among males and in specific disciplines. These findings suggest that age patterns among athletes with high support needs are influenced by sex and sport-specific context rather than competitive achievement, highlighting the importance of considering classification level when examining long-term performance trajectories in Paralympic sport.