The Swiss want to be as successful at the Paralympics in Paris as they were in 2021, thanks to the athletics team - but others such as the para-cycling and swimming delegations are also aiming for precious metal.
The Gare de Lyon in the center of Paris is once again a hive of activity these days. A good two weeks after the Olympic Games came to an end with a spectacular closing ceremony at the Stade de France in Saint-Denis, athletes from all over the world are traveling to the French capital to be part of the 17th Paralympic Games.
Although this is the third time Paris has hosted the Olympic Games since 1900 and 1924, it is a first for the most prestigious sporting event for Para athletes, which was first held in Rome in 1960.
Swiss Paralympic will be there with 27 athletes, the highest number since 2008 in Beijing, when the delegation comprised as many as 28 participants. The two badminton players Ilaria Renggli and Cynthia Mathez will be the first to take part. Renggli, 24, from Aargau, is one of nine athletes in the Swiss team who will be able to show off their skills on the Paralympic stage for the first time. Her 38-year-old doubles partner made her debut in Tokyo and finished fourth with Karin Suter-Erath, who subsequently retired.
The pair are dreaming of a medal, but they are the only European team to have to beat three Asian duos. "It's a challenging draw, but a medal is not impossible," says Head of Sport Andreas Heiniger. In the singles, the chances are less good. Mathez (WH1) and Renggli (WH2) will face the respective world number 1 in their categories, among others.
Successful quartet
Switzerland has a much better chance of winning a medal in athletics. With Marcel Hug, Manuela Schär, Catherine Debrunner and Elena Kratter, a quartet that won twelve of the 14 Swiss medals in Japan is back in the line-up. Swiss Paralympic is basing its objectives for these Games on the results of three years ago. Accordingly, hopes are high that the track and field athletes will add to their medal collections in Paris.
"It's no secret that we have big ambitions in athletics," says Heiniger, without wanting to commit to a specific number of medals. The fact that the successful quartet from Tokyo will also be competing in the Stade de France gives him confidence that he will be able to build on these successes.
World Championship-tested trio
Another sport in which Swiss Paralympic believes it has a chance of winning a medal is para-cycling. Unlike in Tokyo in 2021, Switzerland will not only be competing in handcycling this time, but also on the road bike and tricycle. And with Flurina Rigling, Franziska Matile-Dörig and Celine van Till, the seven-member cycling squad includes three athletes who have already won several world championship medals in their competition classes.
Even though some of the starting classes are merged at the Paralympics and the competition is correspondingly stronger, Olivia Stoffel is confident that the cycling team can achieve something: "A medal is certainly possible," says the Deputy Chef de Mission. "At least one."
Debuting duo
In total, no fewer than 549 sets of medals will be awarded at the Paralympics between August 29 and September 8. Swiss Paralympic is represented in nine of the 22 sports, with Heiniger and Stoffel also seeing potential for a place in the top three in swimming. Nora Meister took bronze in the 400 m crawl three years ago, but 20-year-old Leo McCrea, the youngest of the delegation, is also aiming for a medal in the 100 m breaststroke. In Tokyo, he finished in 5th place.
And then there are two athletes in the Swiss team, Carmen Brussig and Claire Ghiringelli, who will ensure that Switzerland is represented in two sports at the Paralympics for the first time. Judoka Brussig won a complete set of Paralympic medals for Germany before switching nations, while rower Ghiringelli, who lives in the south of Paris, knows the course in Vaire-sur-Marne inside out. Heiniger and Stoffel are also confident that markswoman Nicole Häusler will achieve an exploit. "Who knows, anything is possible," says Stoffel. And Heiniger adds: "It would be great if we could equal the Tokyo mark. Everything else is an encore."
