The United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee and the NCAA office of inclusion will partner for a second consecutive year as part of the Para-College Inclusion Project and Paralympians Made Here initiatives at the 2025 NCAA Division I Men's and Women's Outdoor Track and Field Championships taking placeWednesday through Saturday in Eugene, Oregon.
As part of the Para-College Inclusion Project, two national collegiate wheelchair 100-meter races will be held during the track championships to provide collegiate adaptive student-athletes with more visibility and support. The men's 100-meter wheelchair finals will be held at 4:50 p.m. Pacific time Friday, while the women's 100-meter wheelchair finals will be held at 5:50 p.m. Pacific time Saturday.
Though the NCAA does not sponsor Paralympic sports, the Para-College Inclusion Project was created in 2021 to engage schools that offer adaptive sports to collectively increase Paralympic sport understanding, awareness and connection across the collegiate landscape. In addition to para track and field, the project has featured wheelchair sport exhibitions, demonstrations and national collegiate finals at the NCAA Men's and Women's Final Fours, the NCAA Division I Men's and Women's Tennis Championships and the National Collegiate Men's and Women's Fencing Championships.
The NCAA and USOPC have also collaborated on the Paralympians Made Here campaign, which was created to support Paralympic sports and build national awareness for opportunities within the college sports landscape. Like the Olympic movement in the United States, the Paralympic movement has strong collegiate ties across the nation. More than 70 U.S. Paralympians competed in an NCAA championship sport before taking the world stage at the 2024 Paris Paralympic Games. A total of 11 collegiate athletes representing NCAA schools won 18 medals at the Paris Games in para athletics (track and field) — eight gold, six silver and four bronze. U.S. collegiate Paralympians also tallied robust numbers in other dashboard categories in Paris.
The next Paralympic Games will be held this winter, March 6-15 in Milan, while the next summer Paralympic Games will be held in 2028 in Los Angeles.
