The Flying 400 is a sprint competition which will see a $30,000 (£23,000/€27,000) prize fund and Abbott World Marathon Majors bonus points awarded to the fastest wheelchair athletes in the men’s and women’s races to complete a specified 400 metres time trial section of the London Marathon course.

The Flying 400 will start just after the 20 kilometres point on the north side of Tower Bridge and finish on East Smithfield.

The fastest athlete between these two marks will win $10,000 (£8,000/€9,000), the runner-up receiving $5,000 (£3,800/€4,400).

The fastest finisher of the 400m sprint will also be awarded eight bonus points in the Abbott World Marathon Majors Series XII rankings.

The elite wheelchair men are expected to reach the Flying 400 start point at approximately 9:48 with the elite wheelchair women due to arrive at the point at 9:52.

The prize money has been provided jointly by Abbott World Marathon Majors and London Marathon Events Ltd.

"We want to celebrate wheelchair racing as we host the 2019 World Para Athletics Marathon Championships and this will be the first time that prize money will be awarded for the Abbott World Marathon Majors bonus point competition," said Hugh Brasher, event director of the London Marathon.

"The world’s top wheelchair athletes, who have been involved in the development of the time trial concept, are looking forward to it."

Tim Hadzima, executive director of Abbott World Marathon Majors, added: "We have been working hard to promote elite wheelchair marathon racing and this new initiative, which has been developed with conversations with the athletes, is once again showing leadership in sport."

The Flying 400 is part of Abbott World Marathon Majors bonus points competition, which was introduced for Series XII, starting at the Berlin Marathon in September 2018 and finishing in Germany’s capital in 2019.

Each race decides whether to award the bonus points to the first wheelchair athlete past a single point marker on the course or to stage a point-to-point time trial challenge.

Abbott World Marathon Majors is the collective of the London Marathon, Berlin Marathon, Chicago Marathon, New York City Marathon, Tokyo Marathon and Boston Marathon.

Athletes score points for their finishing place in each race in a Series with the top three male and female marathon runners and wheelchair athletes at the end of each cycle receiving prize money.

Any athlete can win the prize money on offer in the Flying 400, but the United States' Daniel Romanchuk and Switzerland’s Manuela Schar – the respective men's and women's standings leaders who have both already won the maximum of three bonus point sprints – cannot claim any more sprint points in Series XII but can stop other racers doing so if they take top spot.

It was announced earlier this year that the 2019 London Marathon would double up as the World Para Athletics Marathon Championships.

It will mark the second time London has hosted the Championships after the first edition in 2015.

At this year's race on April 28, three different medal events will be held, matching the events set to take place at next year's Paralympic Games in Tokyo.