The team for the fifth edition of the Parapan American Games is packed with experience with 99 Paralympic athletes having been confirmed in the squad.

A total of 154 men and 87 women are set to feature across the eight days of competition.

Several of the cyclists will be coming straight for the 2015 International Cycling Union (UCI) Para-cycling World Championships in Nottwil, Switzerland, including Allison Jones and Jamie Whitmore, winners in the women’s C2 and C3 road race events at the recent Para-cycling World Cup in Elzach, Germany.

A large haul of medals will also be expected to be claimed by the American team in athletics with men’s 100 metres T44 world record holder Richard Browne set to be one of the names to watch at the Games, having recently clinched victory at the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) Athletics Grand Prix Final.

He will be joined by Lex Gillette, the long jump world record holder in the F11 category, and London 2012 Paralympic T54 marathon gold medallist Shirley Reilly.

In addition to the well-known Paralympians, the United States team also features Brazil’s Joaquim Cruz, who will act as a guide runner for visually-impaired runner Ivonne Mosquera-Schmidt.

Cruz claimed gold in the men’s 800m at the Los Angeles 1984 Olympics, but now is the head coach of the US Paralympics Track and Field Resident Programme at the US Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista, California.

“We look forward to a great competition in Toronto,” said Rick Adams, Paralympic Sport and National Governing Body Organisational Development at the United States Olympic Committee.

“The US team is made up of a balance of decorated Paralympians, as well as some new talent, all of them looking to find their way to the top of the podium in Toronto.

“Besides being a proving ground for new athletes, the Parapan Am competition has a direct qualification impact on nine of the 14 sports for Team USA on the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games.”

Their wheelchair rugby team will be among those bidding for a Rio 2016 berth but must claim victory in the six-team competition to progress to next year’s Paralympic Games.

The situation is the same for their men’s sitting volleyball team.

The women’s team are already assured of their place,  having earned the silver medal at the 2014 World Championships.

American athletes will be present in 14 of the 15 sports in Toronto, as they will not filed a five-a-side football team at the multi-sport event, which is expected to feature more than 1,600 athletes from 28 countries.

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