Around 300 athletes will contest 38 medal events at Gold Coast 2018, which is being described as the largest para-sport event in the history of the Commonwealth Games.

Celebrating Commonwealth Day (14 March 2016), the Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) has revealed that the 2018 programme will represent an approximate 45 per cent athlete increase from the cohort which competed at Glasgow 2014.

The number of medal events has also increased by 73 per cent to 38 from 22 at the same Games. At Glasgow 2014, there were 22 para-medal events across 5 sports - Athletics, Swimming, Powerlifting, Lawn Bowls and Track Cycling.

New disciplines, such as the first-ever wheelchair marathon will take place during the Games, taking the action to the streets of Gold Coast. CGF president Louise Martin CBE said that creating the “largest-ever” number of para-sports events in Commonwealth Games history represented “ambitious and welcome growth”.

“Today’s announcement to celebrate ‘An Inclusive Commonwealth’ ensures that the next edition of the Games will enable sports fans in Australia and across the world to support a record-breaking number of para-athletes at a Commonwealth Games,” she added.

The Gold Coast para-sport programme has been developed by the CGF and the Gold Coast organising committee, alongside the International Paralympic Committee (IPC).

Part of CGF’s strategic plan Transformation 2022, the proposals ensure that member associations sending larger para-sport teams are “supported and subsidised”.

IPC president Sir Philip Craven said the announcement was “fantastic news”, adding: “At Glasgow 2014 the para-sport events were extremely popular and I am sure the Australian crowds will turn-out in force to see some of the best athletes in the world line-up across seven sports.”