The conference, entitled "Destination Rio 2016 - preparing for prime performance", is aimed at high performance directors, national coaches, classifiers and team support staff including strength and conditioners, nutritionists and physiotherapists.

Due to take place from December 12 to 13, it will feature a mixture of keynote speeches and panel discussions, while participants will also have the opportunity to attend a number of workshops.

Fourteen-time Paralympic gold medal-winning wheelchair racer Chantel Petitclerc, who will be Team Canada's Chef de Mission at the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games, has been confirmed as the first keynote speaker at the event.

Petitclerc, winner of the IPC’s International Women's Day Recognition Award in March, will speak about athlete perspectives on advances in training and coaching.

"We are very excited that Colorado Springs will stage the first ever Para-athletics coaching conference,” said Ryan Montgomery, head of IPC Athletics.

"Taking place less than nine months before the start of the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games the event will bring together some of the best coaches, athletes and performance directors in the world to share best practice and present new ideas for getting the best out of Para-athletes.

"We're also delighted to confirm that Chantal Petitclerc, the most successful female Paralympian ever on the track, will be one of our keynote speakers.

"Chantal's attendance gives a taster of the quality of world class speakers we will be assembling in Colorado Springs and announcing in the coming months."

Among the other confirmed speakers at the event is The Netherlands’ Guido Bonsen, head coach of the Dutch Para-athletics team since 2009, who will talk about the key factors in running and jumping with prosthesis.

He will be joined by the United States’ Lawrence Judge, national chairman of the USA Track and Field for Coaches Education, who will give a lecture on developing training methodology for seated and standing throws.

Brazil’s Ciro Winckler, professor of physical education at the Federal University of São Paulo, will also be on hand to speak about the ideal training environment for visually impaired athletes.

"We are proud that Colorado Springs, home to US Paralympics, is playing host to a world-class event like the upcoming Para-athletics coaching conference, and we hope to bring additional international events to the US in the near future,” said Rick Adams, the United States Olympic Committee's chief of Paralympic Sport and National Governing Body organisational development.

“We look forward to connecting with our colleagues from around the globe to further Paralympic sport."

Registration for the conference is now open via the IPC Athletics website, by clicking here.

Anyone booking before October 1 can benefit from an early bird registration fee of €300 (£215/$341).


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