Confirmed as a groundbreaking new addition to the Paralympic programme for LA 2028 in 2025, the mixed gender team events in epee and foil will be the first of their kind at a Paralympic or Olympic Games in fencing. 

Building-on the popularity of team events, the mixed gender medals will feature an even more exciting 20-point format, refining the traditional 45-point target in a bid to be more dynamic and attractive to fans. 

Adding even further to the enhancements, the event will see athletes competing exclusively within their classification categories of A or B, bringing tactics and fairness to the fore. 

Sabre at the Paralympics is also getting a makeover. The first ever women’s team sabre will be held in 2028 and the men’s event will return after more than two decades away. New points formats will feature here too with countries fencing to 30 points. 

Collis and Sabharwal will make their presentation on the Insights Stage at the IWG Women and Sport Global Summit, speaking alongside an impressive list of peers from the worlds of research and academia as well as non-governmental organisations, clubs, activists and community leaders. 

 

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In their session they will cover what motivated World Para Fencing to start the journey, as well as what difference the developments are already starting to make to the sport. These include growing participation and reach and enhancing competition. 

Paralympian and 31-time World Cup medallist Collis said: “I am really excited and proud to be able to tell the story of how it’s possible to break new ground in giving men and women an equal and co-dependant platform, whilst at the same time making a sport even more exciting and preserving its traditions.” 

Sabharwal said: “We’re proud that Para Fencing will become the first Paralympic combat sport to introduce mixed-gender team events. But we hope our legacy is something even greater. That when our sport faced a challenge, we chose to innovate. That we demonstrated equality and excellence are not competing ambitions—they reinforce one another. And perhaps, that our experience encourages other sports to ask the same question: Not “What have we always done?”, But “What could we become?” 

The IWG Women and Sport Summit is the foremost gathering on gender equality in sport in the world. The 2026 edition will bring together leaders, practitioners, researchers and changemakers from across the globe to explore what it will take to move Beyond the Breakthrough for women and girls in sport and physical activity. 

Beyond the Breakthrough is about lasting progress, not isolated success stories. It is about how proven ideas, policies and programmes are embedded, adapted and sustained across different contexts, creating shifts that cannot be turned back. 

The new formats in wheelchair fencing can be seen at this year’s World Cups, as well as at regional Championships in the Americas, Europe and Asia from October when the qualification window for LA 2028 opens.