Saturday's event will be the first time the Paralympic Flame has been lit in Stoke Mandeville since the London 2012 Paralympic Games. From Paris 2024 onwards, the Paralympic Flame will start its journey to the Games from Stoke Mandeville. 

This is part of an effort by the International Paralympic Committee (IPC), ParalympicsGB, and WheelPower to raise global awareness of the foundational role that Stoke Mandeville and Sir Ludwig Guttmann played in the birth and development of the Paralympic Movement. 

Helene Raynsford, who is also Chair of the ParalympicsGB Athletes' Commission, said, "Words cannot describe the honour of being chosen to light the Paralympic Flame alongside Gregor at the birthplace of the Paralympic Movement. It will be a very special moment ahead of a spectacular Paralympic Games." 

Gregor Ewan, who made his Paralympic debut and won bronze at Sochi 2014, said, "Stoke Mandeville is such an integral part of the fabric of the Paralympic Movement, and I am thrilled to have been chosen for this very special occasion." 

Following the lighting of the Paralympic Flame, IPC President Andrew Parsons will be the first torchbearer of the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games Torch Relay, which will make a short circuit around the Stoke Mandeville athletics track. 

The Paris 2024 Paralympic Torch Relay, which will be known as the 'Forerunners Relay', will begin in earnest on Sunday (25 August). It will travel from the United Kingdom to France through the Channel Tunnel. Twenty-four British torchbearers will symbolically start the journey through the tunnel and hand over the flame at the halfway point to 24 French Para torchbearers, who will carry it into France. 

When the Paralympic Flame arrives in Calais, it will multiply into 12 separate flames, symbolising the 12-day duration of Paris 2024, France's first Paralympic Games. They will spread out across the whole country before no fewer than 1,200 Forerunners take part in 12 simultaneous relays covering around 50 cities. The relays will converge in Paris on 28 August, where the Paralympic Cauldron will be lit at the Paralympic Games Opening Ceremony. 

The route of the Paralympic Torch Relay has been designed in partnership with the French Paralympic and Sports Committee, with the aim of highlighting areas that are committed to greater inclusion in sport. It has also been designed to highlight the sporting and committed cities closest to the Games, as well as cities that are symbolic of France's history and heritage.