Canadian speedsters carry momentum into World Para Athletics Grand Prix in Switzerland

OTTAWA – Canadian wheelchair racers Brent Lakatos and Anthony Bouchard head into this week’s World Para Athletics Grand Prix in Nottwil, Switzerland buoyed by personal bests and encouraging early-season form.

With no world championships on the calendar this year, the competition is one of the biggest events in the 2026 Para athletics season. The meet runs from Thursday to Saturday (May 21–23).

More than 450 athletes from 58 nations are set to compete. Canada is fielding a 16-member team at a venue where several world records have been set over the years.
Lakatos, Bouchard and several other Canadians tested themselves internationally last week at two meets in Switzerland and were encouraged by their early-season performances.

A 13-time Paralympic medallist across five Games, Lakatos remains one of the sport’s premier wheelchair racers and continues his pursuit of a place at the 2028 Paralympic Games in Los Angeles.

He arrives in Nottwil after posting a personal best in the T53 5000 metres. The 45-year-old from Dorval, Que., clocked nine minutes 29.12 seconds at the Swiss Championships, shaving more than 13 seconds off the mark he had held since 2019. The performance also set Canadian and Americas records.

“The 5000 metres was very fast,” Lakatos told Sportcom. “I wasn’t there for the final sprint, the others were faster than me, but it was a good race.”

His victories in the men’s T53 400m, 800m and 1500m races in Arbon last weekend make him a strong contender in Nottwil, where he will face Thailand’s Pongsakorn Paeyo and Saudi Arabia’s Abdulrahman Alqurashi.

Paeyo is Thailand’s most decorated Paralympian with six gold medals, while Alqurashi is Saudi Arabia’s lone Paralympic champion in Para athletics.

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Lakatos’ fellow Canadian racer Austin Smeenk will also target the top of the podium in the men’s T34 events after winning gold medals in Switzerland last week.

Meanwhile, Bouchard delivered a string of personal bests despite dealing with wrist tendinitis that affected his winter training.

The 33-year-old world champion from Alma, Que., broke the one-minute barrier in the T52 400m for the first time at the Swiss Championships, clocking 59.99 seconds. He also set a personal best of 30.63 in the 200m as he continues to close in on the Canadian record held by his mentor, Dean Bergeron.

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“It wasn’t a perfect race,” Bouchard told Sportcom about the 200m. “That means I’m in a good place right now and that I can still do better.”

Also competing for Canada in Nottwil are Paralympic champion Cody Fournie of Victoria; his 2024 Games teammates Noah Vucsics of Calgary and Zach Gingras of Markham, Ont.; Brendan Cote-Williamson of Calgary; George Quarcoo of Oshawa, Ont., and his guide Segun Makinde of Ottawa; Dante Cormier of Moncton, N.B.; and Maitlin Knoke of Saskatoon.

On the women’s side, Canada will be represented by Paralympians Charlotte Bolton of Tillsonburg, Ont., Renee Foessel of London, Ont., and Katie Pegg of Markham, Ont., along with Carleigh Hiltz of Truro, N.S., and Nandini Sharma of Toronto.

You can watch the Nottwil 2026 World Para Athletics Grand Prix live here.

Complete schedule, results and more information will be available on this page.