Heavy rain is unlikely to dampen the spirits as the paracanoe competition at the Tokyo Paralympic Games gets underway later today.

Heats in all disciplines have been scheduled for Thursday, and with direct finals qualification on the line for race winners there will be plenty of incentive for athletes to perform.

Rain has been forecast for all three days of paracanoe competition at Tokyo’s Sea Forest Waterway, but conditions are also forecast to be still, which will come as a relief for competitors.

Hungary’s reigning KL1 world champion Peter Pal Kiss will race in the first event of the morning, and will have the ICF’s first refugee athlete, Anas Al Khalifa, in the next door lane.

The men’s KL2 has a mouth-watering contest in its opening heat, with New Zealand’s Scott Martlew, Brazil’s Fernando Rufino de Paulo and Austria’s Markus Swoboda going head-to-head for the direct qualification into the final.

Great Britain’s gold medal favourites, Charlotte Henshaw in the KL2 and Laura Sugar in the KL3, will both be in mid-morning action, while Australia’s Curtis McGrath will begin his quest for an history-making two gold medals with heats in both the KL2 and VL3.

Racing begins at 9:30 local time.