Supporting Champions!

As we reported in our last update, 2025 has been a busy year at Virtus with a packed programme of international competitions.

In recent months, the first Virtus World Equestrian Championships were held at the Sparsholt Equine Centre in Winchester, welcoming 24 athletes from six countries: Great Britain, Spain, Germany, Australia, France, and Portugal, for two exciting days of para-dressage competition, before attention turned to Bangkok and the 2025 Virtus World Swimming Championships.

In a landmark event for Virtus, no fewer than 63 World Records were recorded, with more than 250 athletes from 31 countries competing. The II3 competition class, for athletes with autism, delivered the highest number of records, underlining the incredible talent, determination, and competitive spirit within the category.

Records continued to fall as athletes headed to Brisbane-Australia for the Virtus World Athletics Championships – with strong performances across the II1 (intellectual disability), II2 (severe intellectual disability/additional impairment) and II3 (autism) eligibility categories.

Still to come in 2025 are the World Table Tennis Championships (Egypt), World Futsal Championships (Spain) and World Cross Country Championships (Italy), wrapping up a busy year of competition across our sporting programme.

With your support Virtus is able to help more athletes in more nations reach their potential through the provision of events and competitions. Although we have seen a record-breaking year and are proud of the progress we have made for athletes with an intellectual impairment, we always want to do more.

Thankyou for continuing to support Virtus and congratulations to every athlete who has competed in Virtus competition this year.