Lyon were the sole bidders for the event which will be the sixth IPC World Championships after Berlin first hosted the competition back in 1998.

The announcement was made this morning where the IPC chief executive, Xavier Gonzalez, signed the contract with the Local Organising Committee in Beijing shortly ahead of the start of the IPC General Assembly in the Chinese capital.

The nine-day World Championships will be the first major international Paralympic athletics event following the London 2012 Paralympic Games and will run from July 20 to 29.

The event is expected to attract around 2,000 athletes and officials from 118 countries with the likes of the four-time Paralympic champion Oscar Pistorius of South Africa set to compete.

"We are very excited to be heading to France in 2013 for the IPC World Athletics Championships," said Gonzalez following the contract signing.

"With the London 2012 Games just around the corner, Lyon 2013 will feature many new heroes, Paralympic champions and world-record holders who I am sure will provide great entertainment for the French crowds.

"The Local Organising Committee has shown great enthusiasm for this Championships and the whole of the IPC Athletics team is looking forward to working with them in the years to come."

The World Championships will be organised by Handisport France, who lead the successful bid for the event alongside the Ministry for Sport, Regional Council of Rhone Alpes, General Council of Rhone, French Athletics Federation and French Olympic and Sports Committee.

France will be staging the competition for a second time, having hosted the event in Lille in 2002, and French National Paralympic Committee President Gerard Masson said securing the competition was a huge moment for Paralympic sport in the country.

"We are delighted to be bringing one of the biggest Parasport events in the world to France, especially so soon after London 2012," said Masson.

"We are committed to delivering a superb World Championships in Lyon and are confident that we have the right conditions to ensure that athletes can deliver the best possible performances."

The most recent IPC Athletics World Championships were held in January 2011 in Christchurch, New Zealand, where 57 world and 173 championship records were broken.

China led the standings with 21 gold and 58 total medals, while Russia finished second and Brazil joint third alongside Britain.

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