The bold moves, put forward by World Abilitysport as the sport’s governing body and supported by World Para Fencing, will mean that team events in epee, sabre and foil will feature at the Paralympics for the first time since Athens 2004.

In addition the 16-strong medal event programme will offer the chance for men and women to compete at the Paralympics in individual and team events in all three weapons, achieving a level of gender parity never before seen across events and building on Tokyo 2020 and Paris 2024.

LA 2028 will feature men’s and women’s team sabre, mixed team epee and foil and individual events in men’s and women’s epee, foil and sabre category A and B.

Rudi Van Den Abbeele, President of World Abilitysport, said:

“This announcement represents the culmination of a lot of hard work, testing and evolution behind the scenes in collaboration with World Para Fencing and the global community of countries, athletes, coaches and officials it represents. It is recognition of a positive shift for Para fencing, and also shows that the sport is agile in response to the demands of new audiences.

“The mixed team medal events and men’s and women’s sabre were put forward because gender equity and the need to keep constantly evolving the sport is at the forefront of our minds. They were approved because we were able to demonstrate that they would be exciting and attractive.

“That is testament to the progress made in Para fencing around the world by countries, and follows on from the return of the individual women’s sabre at Tokyo 2020 and more than a decade of development of the medal event programme for wheelchair fencing.

“We could not have done it without the support of our Members and National Federations who are the engine of change. We are all incredibly excited about the potential of LA 2028 to bring wheelchair fencing to new audiences and will continue to work to put it in the best possible position to do that.”

The Los Angeles 2028 Paralympic Games will take place from 15-27 August 2028 at venues across the iconic city.

The evolution of wheelchair fencing does not stop at the mixed team and team sabre events. This season World Para Fencing has so far trialled a new 30-point team format in all weapons in men’s and women’s events as it tests different ways to make the sport even more attractive in the future. A 20-point format will be tested later in the season.

A 20-point format featuring two male and two female fencers already exists in the mixed events and will be showcased at LA 2028. Athletes must only fence against athletes from their own category, A or B.

Full medal events programme for LA 2028