Swimming has been part of the Paralympic Games since 1960, catering to athletes with a variety of disabilities.
The sport is open to competitors with intellectual, physical or vision impairments.
So that the competition is fair and inclusive, athletes must submit medical reports to meet the relevant minimum impairment criteria.
The Sporting News outlines the categories set to be used in swimming at Paris 2024.
Paralympic swimming classes, prefixes
There are three prefixes in para-swimming, which indicate the stroke:
- S - Freestyle, backstroke and butterfly
- SB - Breaststroke
- SM - Individual medley
Paralympic swimming categories
All categories are as per Paralympics Australia guidelines.
Physical impairment
- S1, SB1, SM1: Swimmers who have significant movement difficulties in arms, legs and trunk, and use a wheelchair for everyday mobility.
- S2, SB1, SM2: Swimmers who have significant movement difficulties in arms, legs and trunk, but with more propulsive ability in arms or legs than S1 swimmers.
- S3, SB2, SM3: Swimmers with some arm movement but no use of their legs or torso. Also includes swimmers with significant restrictions in all four limbs.
- S4, SB3, SM4: Swimmers with good use of arms and some hand weakness with no use of their torso or legs. Also includes swimmers with significant limb loss to three or four limbs.
- S5, SB4, SM5: Swimmers with good use of arms, but no torso and leg movement. Also includes swimmers with some limb loss in three or four limbs.
- S6, SB5, SM6: Includes swimmers with short stature, swimmers with good arms, some torso and no leg movement and swimmers with significant impairment down one side of their body.
- S7, SB6, SM7: Swimmers with short stature, good arms and torso control and some leg movement or swimmers with coordination difficulties or limb loss down one side of the body.
- S8, SB7, SM8: Swimmers with full use of their arms and torso with good hip and some leg movement. Also includes swimmers with limb loss of two limbs and swimmers without the use of one arm.
- S9, SB8, SM9: Swimmers with weakness, limb loss or coordination difficulties in one arm or leg only.
- S10, SB9, SM10: Swimmers with minimal impairment that affects one joint – typically their foot or hand.
Vision impairment
- S11, SB11, SM11: Swimmers who are blind.
- S12, SB12, SM12: Swimmers who have very low vision in both eyes – visual acuity or visual field.
- S13, SB13, SM13: Swimmers who have low vision in both eyes, but more vision than S12 swimmers.
Intellectual impairment
- S14, SB14, SM14: Swimmers with an intellectual impairment. They may find it more difficult to pace consistently and implement tactics.