Competition will feature a repechage for the first time, giving athletes a second shot on the podium. Find out how to watch here.

With the very best gathered in Paris for the Paralympic Games, let us take a look at some of the faces to watch in epee on 6 September.

Men’s category A

Headlining this event is returning Paralympic champion Piers Gilliver.

Gilliver has carved an ideal path to Paris 2024, retaining his world title in 2023 and winning his second consecutive European title to boot earlier this season.

Until this year he was also unbeaten at a World Cup since 2019. But Italy’s Matteo Dei Rossi broke Gilliver’s spell in Sao Paulo in May, pushing him one step down the podium.

Fans can also expect a strong performance from the likes of China’s Sun Gang and Jianquan Tian. Gang is the gold medallist from Rio 2016 and rarely loses his shine in epee. He will be hoping to improve on his fourth-place finish from Tokyo 2020.

Tian meanwhile is competing at his fifth Paralympic Games and will be aiming for his latest podium. So far the 34-year-old has amassed one gold and two bronzes since debuting at Beijing 2008.

Men’s category B

No defending Paralympic champions here, but instead a deep field of contenders all of which could be expected to make it into the top three.

Two medallists from Tokyo 2020 will return: Brazil’s Jovane Guissone and Great Britain’s Dimitri Coutya, the respective silver and bronze winners from three years ago.

Coutya is the current World No.1 and Guissone has a knack of delivering on the biggest stage of them all.

Chinese debutant Jie Zhang should not be discounted as a World Championships medallist. Neither should Poland’s Michal Dabrowski or Iraq’s Rio 206 silver medallist Ammar Ali.

And keep an eye out for Amelio Castro of the Refugee Paralympic Team. He is a bronze medallist from the most recent Americas Championships.

Women’s category A

Hungary’s Amarilla Veres heads to Paris 2024 as the defending champion. Whilst the Hungarian has had a tricky qualification period, she has still made it onto the World Cup podium twice in 2024.

Two French debutants – Clemence Delavoipiere and Brianna Vide – will have the home crowds behind them and have both appeared near the top of the standings.

And it’s impossible to ignore the likes of European silver medallist Gemma Collis, Spanish bronze medallist Judith Rodriguez and South Korea’s Asian champion Hyo Kyeong Kwon.

Women’s category B

This event will feature one of wheelchair fencing’s most decorated Paralympians.

Saysunee Jana has won a medal at every single Paralympic Games since her debut in Athens 2004, including two golds. At Tokyo 2020 Jana landed on the podium once again, taking the bronze. At Worlds, Asian Championships and the World Cup, the Thai legend is also unbeaten in epee since 2019.

Jana is the only podium finisher from Tokyo 2020 that will return in Paris. But all four from the World Championships have qualified.

These include South Korea’s Eun Hyo Cho, Italy’s Rossana Pasquino and China’s Kang Su.

The USA’s Ellen Geddes is the only member of her team to have competed at a Paralympic Games before whilst on the other end of the spectrum, Francia Jaimez Rojas will make Venezuela’s Paralympic wheelchair fencing debut.

Men’s team epee

The last 12 months at the top of the men’s team epee has been dramatic to say the least.

Heading into the 2023 World Championships, China, who won silver in Tokyo 2020 behind the now absent Russian team, were widely regarded as the ones to beat.

Sneaking up behind them however were Iraq. Zainulabdeen Al-Madhkoori, Hayder Al-Ogaili and Ammar Ali fenced spectacularly to land a place in the final where they faced the world No.1s.

Tian, Xhang, Liqiang Chen and Gang Sun could not live with Iraq and were beaten in dramatic style.

With such quality in the individual events, it would also be foolish to discount Great Britain who return hoping to improve on their bronze from Tokyo 2020.

Women’s team epee

China are once again the top pick amongst most heading into Paris 2024, as the Paralympic and world title holders.

But the women’s team epee offers a wide range of countries the chance to make an impact.

Thailand, powered by Jana and two relatively new but impressive faces in Aphinya Thongdaeng and Duean Nakprasit, grabbed Worlds silver last year.

They finished ahead of fencing powerhouses Hungary, containing their country’s most decorated Paralympian Zsuzsanna Krajnyak.

And Paris 2024 hosts France were just out of the medals in fourth.

Ukraine, with two former or current European champions Olena Fedota-Isaeiva and Yevheniia Breus amongst their ranks, are the silver medallists from Tokyo 2020.

Wheelchair fencing will take-over the iconic Grand Palais at the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games from 3-7 September.

Athletes will compete in the men’s and women’s individual epee, sabre and foil category A and B and the men’s and women’s team epee and foil.

A total of 97 fencers have qualified for this edition of the Paralympic Games from 21 countries. A large number will be debutants as the sport continues its worldwide growth.

Photographs from each day of competition will be available on World Abilitysport’s Flickr.