Ireland's Paralympic Games champions Jason smyth and Michael McKillop have been denied the chance to defend all of their respective titles at the 2016 rio de Janeiro Games after an overhaul of the athletics schedule. derry sprinter smyth, who is visually impaired, was hoping to complete the triple-double after claiming gold in both the T13 100m and 200m at the Beijing and london Paralympics, but won't be able to after the longer event was axed.
McKillop won the T37 800m in Beijing and when the 1500m was added in london he stormed to victory in both disciplines.
The Glengormley middle distance star, who has a mild form of cerebral palsy, couldn't hide his disappointment when he heard the news that the 800m had been removed from the programme.
"after winning in Beijing and in london you just want to go out there and win the title for a third time in rio," he said.
"They've taken it away in favour of other events and it's just very disappointing.
"apparently the International Paralympic Council has done studies across the board and they wanted to give opportunities to other athletes to compete in their own classifications.
"With Paralympic sport it can be difficult to understand the classifications but what is disappointing is that Paralympic sport had moved on so much since Beijing, when I could only win one title, and to london, where I won two, and now this is a step backwards going towards rio."
The announcement of the athletics events for rio - 177 events, seven more than london 2012 and a 22 per cent increase in the number of events for women - was two years in the making after widespread consultation.
The aim of International Paralympics Committee athletics was said to be for a better spectrum of events to be offered within the programme (short, middle distance and long distance running events, jumps and throwing events) and some events were casualties of the restructuring.
The timing of the news was also strange coming as it did less than 48 hours after the World Championships finished in France, an event where smyth and McKillop both successfully defended their titles in the four disciplines. smyth harbours hopes of making both the Olympics and Paralympics in 2016 having narrowly missed out achieving that goal in london where he was only four-hundredths of a second outside the 'a' standard in the 100m for the Olympics.
McKillop doesn't have that option but is no less determined to make his mark in Brazil.
"don't forget I have one event in rio," he said.
"I'm quite lucky compared to some athletes but it's still sad.
"Having said that, it makes my motivation more fierce now."
northern Ireland's third Paralympic athlete from last summer is also affected by the changes.
Ballykelly girl sally Brown, a member of Team GB, will also miss out in one of her two events.
Brown ran in the T46 100m and 200m at london 2012 - finishing sixth in the 100m - but the rescheduling means no 200m in rio.
n sPRiNt FiNish: Jason Smyth (right) and Michael McKillop have been rocked by the news that they can only defend one of their Paralympic titles in Rio in 2016