760 EP018 – Exploring paracycling: a sports-medicine perspective

Para-cycling is a provides personal elevation and social integration to impaired people. It has become increasingly important in high performance and sports policies in developed countries. In the 1980s, it was only for blind athletes, but recently new categories have been created for other disabilities based on functional capacity. Despite an estimated 1, 3 billion people in the world (16% of population) with disabilities who could join the sport, only few thousand are licensed by the Union Cycliste Internationale. In our country para-cycling has been part of the Cycling Federation since 1996, but there is a lack of knowledge about the sport, including the athletes' origin and mode of introduction. An retrospective study was conducted to assess the representativeness of para-cycling over the last five years. Data was obtained from the gest-UVPFPC platform on para-cycling athletes. A comprehensive evaluation of para-cycling was done, including medical, sports, organizational, economic, and social considerations. Para cyclist's athletes included in national federation, athletes included in the RADAR group (Registration of High-Performance Agents) by the Institute of Sports and athletes integrated into the Paralympic program. Between 2019 and 2023, we had 63 athletes competing in national and international competitions, 55 men (88. 7%) and 8 women (12. 7%), average age of 38. 4 years. Category C (29 athletes, 46. 0%) and H (20 athletes, 31. 8%) are the categories with the most athletes. Category B (tandem bicycles) has 2 females (3, 2%). In category T, no athlete is competing now. In a country with limited investment in adapted sports and only 10 million citizens, these 63 athletes represent a positive step. However, there is still a long way to go in supporting para-cycling athletes, particularly those severely disabled. An earlier articulation between rehabilitation units with national federations and funding translation programs between in-hospital sports consultations and the community could be an improvement.