There are 1,000 days until the Paralympics officially open in L.A., but the wait won’t be quite as long for the competition to start.
The 2028 Paralympics will be the first to begin competition before its opening ceremony, LA28 announced Wednesday while revealing the initial competition schedule for the Games.
While the Paralympic flame will be lit during the opening ceremony on Aug. 15, 2028, at SoFi Stadium, competition will begin with wheelchair rugby on Aug. 13 and boccia on Aug. 14, during an unprecedented 15-day schedule. The only other time the Paralympics stretched past two weeks was in 1984 when the United States and Great Britain split hosting duties.
“The Paralympic competition schedule reflects our athlete-first approach in planning and creating unforgettable competition moments across the region as we prepare to welcome the Paralympic Games to Los Angeles for the very first time,” LA28 chief executive officer Reynold Hoover said in a statement.
The first 2028 Paralympic medals will be awarded on Aug. 16 in para track and field, wheelchair fencing, shooting para sport, para equestrian and para cycling track.
Eight days later on Aug. 24, the 2028 Games will make more history with the debut of para climbing, held in Long Beach. LA28 is the first organizing committee to propose and successfully add a new sport to the Paralympic program. Paraclimbing became the fifth new Paralympic sport in the last 12 years when it was approved by the International Paralympic Committee in 2024, signaling the continued growth of adaptive sports.
While L.A. will host its third Olympics, the 2028 Paralympics will be the city’s first. The international sporting event for athletes with physical disabilities drew record TV numbers during the Paris Games as NBC reported 15.4 million total viewers across its TV and streaming platforms for the Paralympic Games.
LA28’s expanded 23-sport program ends on Aug. 27 with finals of blind soccer, para track and field, para badminton, para climbing, para powerlifting, sitting volleyball and wheelchair basketball before the closing ceremony at 6 p.m. at the Coliseum.
More detailed information about the competition schedule, including timing of each event, will be released next year. Paralympic tickets will go on sale in 2027.
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