The United States wheelchair basketball team has only one goal in mind: the gold in Paris 2024. The Americans have just won the Parapan American Games in Santiago 2023 and are already thinking about the next Paralympic Games, with their sights set on achieving his third consecutive Paralympic title, after Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020.

For this reason, in April they began their training, with new faces and also old acquaintances who come from previous processes. In fact, six players from the squad of 12 that played the Games in Brazil are still on the team and are already thinking about the party in Paris.

“The core group that was in Tokyo is here, but now there are some young people as well, so there’s a bigger learning curve” team member Jake Williams, 32, told the official Team USA web site. “We’ve been together for three or four Paralympic Games, so we know what to expect in Paris, what the competition will be like, what the Village will be like” added Nate Hinze, who is on the eve of competing in his fifth Paralympic Games. It already has in its showcases the bronze from London 2012 and the gold from the last two editions of the event.

Are they favorites to win in Paris? Logic indicates so, the level of the United States had to be enough to win the gold medal. They are the last world champions in 2022, they have five consecutive Parapan American Games golds and two golds in a row from the last Paralympic Games. Now the dream is to get third in the upcoming mega event.

And as for the competition format at the Paralympics, there will be eight teams competing for the medals in the men’s competition, to be held between August 29 and September 8. The United States qualified after gold in Santiago 2023. Canada, France, Germany and the Netherlands qualified through the playoffs. Spain and Great Britain will go after the results of the European Championship, while Australia will do so as champion of Asia and Oceania.