PARIS – We are getting closer to the finish line with three days left until the end of the Paralympic Games competitions.

Medals will be awarded in 10 Paralympic sports on Friday, including a series of gold medals in athletics at the Stade de France, the national stadium.

The men’s and women’s road cycling titles are played in nearby Clichy-sous-Bois, and the women’s wheelchair tennis final is held at Roland Garros, home of the French Open.

Iran is expected to defend its championship title in the men’s sitting volleyball final.

Here’s a closer look at what the future holds.

Storey is considering writing another episode

British Paralympic cycling star Sarah Storey is aiming for a 19th gold medal when she competes in the C4-C5 women’s road race.

Storey, 46, who won his first Paralympic gold medal as a swimmer in 1992, won gold in the time trial on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, multiple world champion Kévin Le Cunff is defending his Olympic title in the men’s C4-5 road race.

All races are held on the 14.2-kilometre (8.8 mi) hilly course, starting and finishing in Clichy-sous-Bois, a suburb of Seine-Saint-Denis, where the Stade de France is located.

Cyclists in categories C1-C5 compete with prosthetics or limited movement of their upper or lower limbs, although they can ride a standard bike.

Finals are also held in the men’s and women’s B races, where visually impaired athletes compete with a healthy guide known as a pilot.

De Groot retains tennis title

Wheelchair tennis star Diede De Groot is on track for another Olympic gold.

The 27-year-old Dutch player is defending her singles title on the Philippe Chatrier court at Roland Garros against Japan’s Yui Kamiji, who lost to her in the women’s doubles final on Thursday.

It is also a rematch of the women’s singles final played at the Tokyo Games three years ago.

De Groot has won 23 Grand Slam wheelchair singles titles. After losing to Kamiji in early 2021, he went on a 145-match unbeaten streak that ended in May of this year.

US equestrians target team gold

Equestrians Rebecca Hart and Fiona Howard are looking for another gold medal in the team dressage event held at the Palace of Versailles, once home to the French royal family.

Hart and Howard won gold medals in their respective categories in individual dressage on Tuesday, while Roxanne Trunnell took silver in Class I, which features the most disabled riders.

Trunnell, 39, is aiming for her fifth Paralympic medal after two individual golds and a team bronze at the 2021 Tokyo Games. She contracted a virus in 2009 that caused swelling in her brain and left her needing a wheelchair.

The Americans will face tough competition from a British team that includes six-time gold medalist Natasha Baker.

The quest for gold in volleyball

Bosnia and Herzegovina will have a rare opportunity to win a gold medal at the Paralympic Games when they face tournament favourites Iran in the men’s sitting volleyball final at the Paris North Arena.

However, they need to find a way past Morteza Mehrzadselakjani, who sits with his arms up and is over 1.8 metres tall, at 2.46 metres.

Iran won the last two gold medals and has collected seven medals in total since 1988.

But Bosnia and Herzegovina beat Iran to win the 2012 final in London and the 2004 final in Athens. Powerful nations have contested five of the last six Paralympic finals.

Germany and Egypt will face off for the bronze medal on Friday.

Fans get a unique race viewing opportunity

The crowd at the Stade de France will have the opportunity to watch the 4×100 metres universal relay, one of the symbols of the Paralympic Games.

In the mixed gender and mixed disability race, teams of four athletes, two men and two women with different disabilities, take part.

Each team starts with a blind athlete, followed by an amputee runner, then an athlete with cerebral palsy, and finishes with a wheelchair racer speeding toward the finish line.

Unlike traditional relay racing, there are no flags. Instead, the handover is done by touching at designated areas on the track.

In the first Paralympic final held at the Tokyo Games three years ago, the United States won with a time of 45.52 seconds.

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Associated Press writer Tom Nouvian in Paris contributed to this report.

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AP Paralympic Games: https://apnews.com/hub/paralympic-games