One hundred and seventy-one Para athletes from 39 nations, including seven refugee athletes, were provided with grants to compete at international competitions in 2025 as part of the first year of Sport for Mobility, the International Paralympic Committee’s (IPC) global Para sport development programme.
Such was the success of the IPC competition support initiative, which is the product of a grant agreement with the Toyota Mobility Foundation, that some athletes made history by qualifying their National Paralympic Committee (NPC) for a first Paralympic Winter Games while others won maiden world titles.
In making competition support grants available to all NPCs and winter sport International Federations in 2025, the IPC is helping with costs such as travel, accommodation, access to classification, and entry fees for events.
Kristina Molloy, IPC Deputy Chief Executive Officer, said: “We are delighted that in its first year, more than 170 Para athletes had the chance to compete internationally as a result of the Sport for Mobility competition grants initiative provided to them by the IPC to either their NPC or International Federation.
“By removing the financial constraints often faced by NPCs to send Para athletes to major events, the IPC aims to increase the diversity and quality of talent competing in international Para sport competitions and empower more athletes on the pathway to Paralympic Games qualification.”
Qualification for a first Paralympic Winter Games
One of the countries to benefit from grant support was NPC El Salvador whose athletes David Chavez and Jonathan Arias were provided with grant support through the International Ski and Snowboard Federation (FIS). This enabled the pair to compete at the FIS Nordic Ski Championships Trondheim 2025 where the athletes made history by securing a qualification slot for the Milano Cortina 2026 Paralympic Winter Games. This ensured the nation would compete at a Winter Games – Olympic or Paralympic– for the first time.
David Chavez said: “With the grant support, I managed to qualify for the Paralympic Winter Games. Being the first athlete from El Salvador to go to the Winter Games, I put El Salvador’s name high.”
First refugee world champion
During 2025, the IPC provided competition support to five host NPCs to support seven refugee Para athletes with training, licensing, classification and attendance at international competition.
One of the athletes to benefit was vision impaired sprinter Guillaume Junior Atangana. Together with his guide runner Donard Ndim Nyamjua, Atangana became the first refugee in any sport to win a world title with success in the 400m T11. The pair were able to compete at the World Para Athletics Championships in India courtesy of an IPC grant that was awarded to their host NPC – NPC Great Britain.
Atangana said: “Never did I imagine that there could be more to achieve after winning a bronze medal at the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games. However, thanks to Toyota Mobility Foundation’s support, I can now proudly call myself a World Champion, the first refugee athlete in any world sport to do so!”
First Sport for Mobility world champions
Atangana was not the only Sport for Mobility beneficiary to win medals at September’s World Para Athletics Championships.
Libya’s Mahmoud Rajab became his country’s first-ever Para athletics world champion with success in the men’s discus after throwing a new Championship and African record of 46.73m. There were also medal wins for Saudi Arabia’s Abdulrahman Alqurashi with silver in the men’s 100m T53 and Lithuania’s Oksana Dobrovolskaja who claimed bronze in the women’s discus F11.
In total, six NPCs received targeted grants to ensure the participation of 10 Para athletes at the World Championships. The opportunity to compete against the world’s best empowered several athletes to set personal bests and establish new national, regional and Championship records.
Providing competition support to NPCs and International Federations is a key component of the IPC’s Sport for Mobility programme which offers a wide range of transformational development initiatives to IPC member organisations. In total there are 14 impactful initiatives that are tailored and targeted to IPC member organisations in the thematic areas of Athletes, Leaders and Participation.
Learn more about Sport for Mobility, the IPC’s global Para sport development programme
