2024 Paralympics schedule Sept. 4: Can Italian fencer Bebe Vio defend her title yet again?

PARIS (AP) — Paralympians will compete for medals in a host of sports on the seventh day of competition at the Paralympic Games on Wednesday.

Italian fencing star Bebe Vio will be vying for her third consecutive gold medal in wheelchair fencing.

There will be medals too in para table tennis, para archery, para powerlifting, para swimming, para shooting, para equestrian, wheelchair tennis, para road cycling and para athletics, both in the morning and in the evening.

Here’s a closer look at some of the expected highlights:

Can Vio do it again?

One of the best-known Paralympic champions, Bebe Vio is defending her gold medal in women's foil category B for the second time after a successful defense in Tokyo, where she defeated China's Zhou Jingjing in the final.

Vio was already an avid fencer at age 11 when she contracted meningitis. Doctors amputated both her forearms and both her legs at the knees to save her life. She only took eight months away from the sport before returning competitively.

Vio will open her defense in the quarterfinals. The gold medal bout at Grand Palais is scheduled for 8.15 p.m. local time.

Blade jumper aiming long

Six-time world champion Markus Rehm, also known as “The Blade Jumper,” is going for his fourth consecutive gold medal in men’s long jump at Stade de France.

The now 36-year-old German won gold at the Tokyo, Rio de Janeiro and London Games.

Rehm wants to jump 9 meters. He jumped 8.49 on his last visit to Paris for the world championships last year.

Netherlands vs. Britain in wheelchair tennis

Wheelchair tennis will crown the discipline’s first champions of the Games at Roland Garros.

Niels Vink and Sam Schroder of the Netherlands face British players Andy Lapthorne and Gregory Slade in the quad doubles gold medal match.

Long looking for medal No. 30

Jessica Long, the second most decorated Paralympian in U.S. history, is aiming for another medal in the women’s 400 freestyle in the S8 classification for athletes with physical impairments.

Long has a whopping 29 Paralympic medals, including eight gold, in swimming since she was the youngest athlete at 12 years of age on the 2004 U.S. team in Athens.

In Paris, she was fourth in the 200 individual medley and sixth in the 100 backstroke finals. She’s in heat 2 of the 400 freestyle on Wednesday morning, with the final taking place in the evening.

Long also has the 100 butterfly to come on Saturday.

Oksana Masters eyes more gold

American multi-sport specialist Oksana Masters is defending her gold medal in para cycling’s H4-5 individual time trial.

It’s just the Ukrainian-born Paralympian star’s first title defense of the Games. She has a H5 road race as defending champion on Thursday.

The 35-year-old Masters will wrap up her Paris Games in the mixed H1-5 team relay on Saturday.

She already had a career total of seven gold medals — 17 medals overall — from both summer and winter Games.

___

AP Paralympics: https://apnews.com/hub/paralympic-games

Ciarán Fahey, The Associated Press