In what will be the biggest Para event ever held in the country, the Championships are the first major swimming competition since the Tokyo Paralympic Games.

Now held biannually, it was deliberately delayed by a year to avoid clashing with the rescheduled Games.

This will be tenth edition of the Championships and the third in its current iteration, having previously been known as the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) Swimming World Championships until 2016.

All races will take place at the Penteada Swimming Pool Complex in Funchal, which played host to both the 2016 and 2020 European Open Championships. 

Italy topped the medals table at the last World Championships in London three years ago after finishing with 50 total medals and 20 golds, one ahead of Great Britain.

Jessica Long of the United States, the most-decorated active Para swimmer, will not be adding to her 44 World Championships medals after she announced she was taking a break. 

The host nation will have ten swimmers competing at the event, with Susana Veiga most likely to get on the podium after winning Portugal their only medal in London, a silver in the women’s 50-metres freestyle S9. 

Many impressive medallists from the Tokyo Games will be making their World Championships debuts, including Anastasia Pagonis of the United States, the women’s 400m Freestyle S11 world record holder, and Brazil's double Olympic champion Gabriel Araujo, who won the 50m and 200m freestyle S2. 

The 2022 World Para Swimming Championships will get underway tomorrow, with races scheduled to continue until June 18.