Paralympic Torch Arrives in France for Paris 2024 Games

The Paralympic Torch has arrived in France, ahead of the start of the Paris 2024 Paralympics. One day after the lighting ceremony in Stoke Mandeville, the birthplace of the Paralympic Games, the torch made its way through the Channel Tunnel, getting the ball rolling on a new fortnight of celebration across France.

The Paralympic Torch set out from the English port town of Folkestone and dipped into the Channel Tunnel escorted by a guard of honor featuring 24 British torchbearers.

Hélène Raynsford and Gregor Ewan, who had lit the flame in Stoke Mandeville the day before, passed the torch to the captain of this team relay, Andrew Small, a Tokyo 2020 Paralympic champion. Joining him on this undersea leg were the Para judoka Ian Rose and the Para canoeist Ian Marsden.

Twenty-four French torchbearers met their British counterparts under the sea half way between France and England. Among them were Laura Mills, a great-granddaughter of Sir Ludwig Guttmann, the founder of the Paralympic Movement and the inaugural Paralympic Games, and Ludivine Munos, a 12-time medallist in Para swimming.

The 24 French relay runners resumed their journey towards French shores, where Tony Estanguet, the President of Paris 2024, and Marie-Amélie Le Fur, the President of the French Paralympic and Sports Committee, stood ready to witness their historic arrival. Upon emerging from the tunnel in Calais, the flame split into 12 torches, spreading to the far corners of France to bring its magic to the French masses.

The inaugural day of the relay saw more than 360 Paralympic torchbearers traverse France. Among them were iconic Para swimmers such as Béatrice Hess  in Strasbourg, Raphaël Dutay in Antibes Juan-les-Pins, and Charles Rozoy in Saint-Malo.

The cauldron in Paris will be lit when all 12 flames return to the city on 28 August, followed by 11 days of competition.