Tonight marks the start of the Paris Paralympics opening ceremony, which will feature a procession of thousands of athletes passing past famous locations in the French capital.

Before the competitions begin on Thursday, an estimated 65,000 fans will watch the participants from over 180 countries march from the Champs-Elysees to Place de la Concorde.

Starting at 7 p.m. local time (6 p.m. in the UK), the opening ceremony will be held outside of a stadium for the first time in the history of the Paralympics.

The Paralympic champions Terry Bywater and Lucy Shuker have been chosen to carry the ParalympicsGB banner with the approximately 4,400 competitors from over 180 countries who will participate in the parade.

The ceremony ends at 10pm, before competitions kick off the next day in sports including track cycling, swimming, taekwondo and table tennis.

While there are 28 Paralympic sports in total, only 22 are part of the Paris Games. The contests will be spread across 18 venues and two weeks, with the closing ceremony set for 8 September.

The Paralympics flame was lit last Saturday by British Paralympians Helene Raynsford and Gregor Ewan in Stoke Mandeville, a village northwest of London widely considered the birthplace of the Games.

The flame then travelled to France under the English Channel for a four-day relay from Atlantic Ocean shores to Mediterranean beaches, from mountains in the Pyrenees to the Alps.

Its journey will end in Paris on Wednesday during the opening ceremony - with the lighting of a unique Olympic cauldron attached to a hot-air balloon that will fly over the French capital every evening during 11 days of competition.

According to Sky Sports, Great Britain finished 124th on the podium at the 2020 Tokyo Paralympic Games, winning 41 gold, 38 silver, and 45 bronze medals.

According to UK Sport, ParalympicsGB is anticipated to win between 100 and 140 sports medals at the Games in Paris.

At the Paralympic Games, 549 gold medals are up for grabs.