A three-day showcase of Para-athletics is bound for Canberra for the Summer Down Under Series, headlined by the Australian Athletics Wheelchair Championships over 1500m and 5000m which has attracted the nation’s biggest names and their international rivals.
Read on for 10 Australian athletes to watch at the meet run by Wheelchair Sports NSW and ACT from January 21-23, with full entry lists available HERE.
Coach: Louise Sauvage
Events: 100m, 400m, 800m
Classification: T34
Growing his global medal collection to 15 with two silvers at the 2025 World Para Athletics Championships in New Delhi, Rheed McCracken returned to his best in 2025 to reassert himself as one of the world’s premier wheelchair racers.
A four-time Paralympian at just 28-years-old, McCracken brings that momentum into 2026 where he will have the opportunity to experiment with his training and chair with no major championships on the horizon until the 2027 World Para Athletics Championships.
The Bundaberg product possesses impressive range with Paralympic medals from 100m through to 800m, with his flawless start often giving him the pick of positioning and tactics in races all around the world.
Coach: Jamie Green
Events: 100m, 400m, 800m, 1500m
Classification: T53
Few Para-athletics competitions have gone by in the 21st century without the presence of Australia’s Angela Ballard, such has been her consistency and excellence as a seven-time Paralympian.
A 20-time global medallist who was a Paralympic co-captain in 2024, Ballard continues to mix her competitive career with a willingness to share her knowledge and experience with the next generation, gunning for the Australian 1500m title at the Australian Institute of Sport this week.
Both the Women’s 400m and 1500m T53/54 are on the Commonwealth Games program and will undoubtedly be a goal for the seasoned campaigner, which would make her the first Australian Para-athlete to compete at five Commonwealth Games.
Coach: Fred Periac
Events: 100m, 200m
Classification: T52
Samuel McIntosh will have to wait until the 2026 Australian Athletics Championships for his shot at a national title in the 100m, but the four-time Paralympian returns to a track that marked a significant milestone for him in 2025.
McIntosh torched the 100m in a time of 16.89 (+0.1) to join rarified company as a sub-17 second sprinter in his class, returning in 2026 after building on his impressive international resume at the 2025 World Para Athletics Championships.
A staple on the Para-athletics scene both in Australia and internationally, you can count on McIntosh to bring his best and do it with a smile on his face.
Coach: Scott Reardon
Events: 100m, 400m
Classification: T54
Renowned for her long jump credentials as a three-time Paralympic champion, Vanessa Low’s wheelchair racing debut arrives this week as one of the major storylines of the Summer Down Under Series.
Experimenting with wheelchair racing in the pre-season of 2025, Low will make her first competitive appearance in the discipline as she switches up her program from winning the 2025 Long Jump T63 world title in New Delhi, taking on a host of her Australian teammates who will have a rare opportunity to lead a Paralympic great.
Low is listed to race both the 100m and 400m T54.
Coach: Fred Periac
Events: 100m, 400m, 800m, 1500m, 5000m
Classification: T54
No stranger to a busy racing schedule, Samuel Rizzo is always refining his craft.
The rising wheelchair racer enjoyed his best major championship experience yet at the 2025 World Para Athletics Championships in New Delhi, building on his Paralympic debut in 2024, better known for his work over the longer distances.
Rizzo will be a prime candidate in the race for the Australian Championships in the 1500m and 5000m, where tactics will be paramount in the evenly contested field, as the 25-year-old puts his pre-season to the test and pushes the limits in his bid for national glory.
Coach: Louise Sauvage
Events: 100m, 200m, 400m, 800m
Classification: T54
A relatively new name on the Para-athletics circuit, Aimee Fisher is in contention for a 2026 Commonwealth Games berth in the 400m T54, with a hot track in Canberra presenting a great opportunity to improve her ranking.
Hailing from Newcastle, Fisher was inspired to compete after seven-time Paralympian Christie Dawes spoke at her school not long after her accident, sparking her interest in wheelchair racing which now sees her on the brink of an Australian team debut.
With Paralympic legend Louise Sauvage in her corner, Fisher will contest a range of events in Canberra across the three days, but her international hopes for 2026 hinge on the 400m.
Coach: Fred Periac / Jamie Green
Events: 100m, 400m, 800m, 1500m, 5000m
Classification: T54
A stalwart of Australian wheelchair racing, Jake Lappin is a proven force from the middle-distance ranks through to the marathon, with a wealth of experience on the international stage.
From shattering Kurt Fearnley’s 800m T53/54 national record in 2017 to winning Commonwealth Games bronze on home soil in 2018, Lappin will take on the full range of events in Canberra across the three-day championships – headlined by Australian title bouts over 1500m and 5000m.
A two-time Paralympian, Lappin will go head-to-head with Sam Carter and Samuel Rizzo in his bid to qualify for Glasgow 2026 – 16-years after his debut at the 2010 Commonwealth Games in New Delhi.
Coach: Louise Sauvage
Events: 100m, 400m, 800m, 1500m, 5000m
Classification: T34
One of a host of teenagers to make their global debut at the 2025 World Para Athletics Championships, Coco Espie is continuing her development under the guidance of nine-time Paralympic champion Louise Sauvage.
Espie will come full circle after her career started when seeing an advertisement for a Wheelchair Racing NSW Come and Try Day while in hospital, now competing at their premier event for the year alongside her Australian teammates.
Crediting the Para-athletics community as her greatest joy in the sport and competing with aspirations of qualifying for the Los Angeles 2028 Paralympic Games, Espie is one of the nation’s emerging wheelchair racers.
Coach: Fred Periac
Events: 100m, 200m, 400m, 800m, 1500m, 5000m
Classification: T54
The Australian record holder in the 1500m T53/54, Sam Carter will be eager to turn that result into an Australian title this week.
Setting a mark of 2:49.18 in Arbon, Switzerland last year to claim the national record in the class that featured Paralympic icon Kurt Fearnley, Carter progressed to the 2025 World Para Athletics Championships where he navigated the heats safely to round out a solid year.
The versatile talent will contest the full spectrum of events on offer on the track, but will eye the 1500m in particular as his favoured event is on the 2026 Commonwealth Games program – claiming bronze in Birmingham in 2022.
Coach: Breanne Clement
Events: Shot Put, Club Throw
Classification: F32
With four Paralympic Games to her name, Rosemary Little has competed both on the track and in the field throughout her career, now contesting mainly the seated throws which have seen her win a global medal as recently as 2023.
Forced to withdraw from the 2025 World Para Athletics Championships due to illness, Little will be out to open 2026 with a bang at the Australian Institute of Sport, beginning her 17th season as a Para-athlete.
By Lachlan Moorhouse, Australian Athletics
Posted 18/1/2026
