Para swimming is an adaptation of the sport of swimming for athletes with disabilities. Para swimmers compete at the Summer Paralympic Games and at other sports competitions throughout the world. The sport is governed by the International Paralympic Committee. Both men and women compete in para swimming, racing against competitors of their own gender. Swimming has been a part of the Paralympic program since the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome, Italy. [1]
Rules for the sport are adapted from those set forth by the International Swimming Federation (FINA). Swimmers compete individually in backstroke, breaststroke, butterfly, freestyle, individual medley, and as teams in relay races. At the Paralympics, World Championships and other elite level competitions, swimmers compete in an Olympic-size swimming pool.
Significant differences between able-bodied and para swimming include the starting position and adaptations allowed for visually impaired swimmers. Competitors may start a race by standing on a platform and diving into the pool, as in non-disabled swimming, or by sitting on the platform and diving in, or they may start the race in the water. In events for the blind and visually impaired, people called "tappers" may stand at the end of the pool and use a pole to tap the swimmers when they approach the wall, indicating when the swimmer should turn or end the race. [2] No prostheses or assistive devices may be worn during competition. [1]
Swimmers are classified according to the type and extent of their disability. The classification system allows swimmers to compete against others with a similar level of function.
Swimmers with physical disabilities are allocated a category between 1 and 10, with 1 corresponding to the most severe types of disability. Physical disabilities of para swimmers include single or multiple limb loss (through birth defects and/or amputation), cerebral palsy, spinal cord injuries (leading to paralysis or disability in limb coordination), dwarfism, and disabilities which impair the use of joints. [3]
Blind and visually impaired swimmers compete within separate categories, being allocated to categories 11, 12 or 13. Category 11 corresponds to totally blind swimmers, while competitors in category 12 have severe but not total visual impairment. [3] Category 11 swimmers compete with blackened goggles to ensure competitors are on an even level. Category 11 swimmers are also required to use tappers but they are optional for categories 12 and 13. [4]
Swimmers with mental disabilities compete in category 14, [3] while deaf and hearing impaired swimmers compete in category 15. [5]
Numbers are combined with a letter prefix depending on the event type. An "S" prefix corresponds to freestyle, backstroke and butterfly, while "SB" corresponds to breaststroke and "SM" to the medley. Hence, a swimmer with severe physical disabilities competing in backstroke may compete in an S3 event, while a blind swimmer in the medley would compete in class SM11. [3]
For relay races, athletes from different classifications compete together, but the sum of their individual classifications must not exceed a given points total. For example, a relay team for a 34 points freestyle relay may consist of two S8 swimmers and two S9 swimmers (9 + 9 + 8 + 8 = 34), or an S10 swimmer and three S8 swimmers (10 + 8 + 8 + 8 = 34) [6]
The World Series was launched in 2017. [12] [13] [14] [15] [16] [17]
Source: [18]
2017 World Para Swimming World Series
City, country Name Date
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2018 World Para Swimming World Series
City, country Name Date
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2019 World Para Swimming World Series
City, country Name Date
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2020 World Para Swimming World Series
City, country Name Date
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2021 World Para Swimming World Series
City, country Name Date
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2022 World Para Swimming World Series
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Source: [24]
The Paralympic Games or Paralympics, also known as the Games of the Paralympiad, is a periodic series of international multisport events involving athletes with a range of disabilities. There are Winter and Summer Paralympic Games, which since the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Korea, have been held shortly after the corresponding Olympic Games. All Paralympic Games are governed by the International Paralympic Committee (IPC).
Para-athletics is the sport of athletics practiced by people with a disability as a parasport. The athletics events within the parasport are mostly the same as those available to able-bodied people, with two major exceptions in wheelchair racing and the club throw, which are specific to the division. The sport is known by various names, including disability athletics, disabled track and field and Paralympic athletics. Top-level competitors may be called elite athletes with disability.
S10, SB9, SM10 are para-swimming classifications used for categorizing swimmers based on their level of disability. Swimmers in this class tend to have minimal weakness affecting their legs, missing feet, a missing leg below the knee or problems with their hips. This class includes a number of different disabilities including people with amputations and cerebral palsy. The classification is governed by the International Paralympic Committee, and competes at the Paralympic Games.
B1 is a medical-based Paralympic classification for blind sport. Athletes in this classification are totally or almost totally blind. It is used by a number of blind sports including blind tennis, para-alpine skiing, para-Nordic skiing, blind cricket, blind golf, five-a-side football, goalball and judo. Some other sports, including adaptive rowing, athletics and swimming, have equivalents to this class.
B3 is a medical based Paralympic classification for blind sport. Competitors in this classification have partial sight, with visual acuity from 2/60 to 6/60. It is used by a number of blind sports including para-alpine skiing, para-Nordic skiing, blind cricket, blind golf, five-a-side football, goalball and judo. Some other sports, including adaptive rowing, athletics and swimming, have equivalents to this class.
Para-swimming classification is a function-based classification system designed to allow for fair competition in disability swimming. The classes are prefixed with "S" for freestyle, butterfly and backstroke events, "SB" for breaststroke and "SM" for individual medley events. Swimmers with physical disabilities are divided into ten classes based on their degree of functional disability: S1, S2, S3, S4, S5, S6, S7, S8, S9 and S10. The lower number indicates a greater degree of impairment. Those with visual impairments are placed in classes S11, S12 and S13. Class S15 is for athletes with hearing loss. Additional classes may be reserved for swimmers with intellectual impairment: S14, S18 for swimmers with Down Syndrome or class-S14 intellectual impairment combined with a physical impairment, and S19 for swimmers with autism.
Hannah Russell, is a British Paralympic swimmer competing in S12 classification events. In 2012, she became British S12 champion in the 100m backstroke and qualified for the 2012 Summer Paralympic Games where she won a silver in the 400m freestyle and a bronze in the 100m butterfly. In the 2016 Summer Paralympic Games, she won the gold medal in the 100m backstroke with the time of 1:06:06 earning her the World Record.
Tully Alicia Jacqueline Kearney is a British Paralympic swimmer. Kearney competes in the S5/SB3 classification for swimmers with physical disabilities. She won Gold and Silver at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games setting World records in both the 50 m and 100 m freestyle. She has also won medals in four IPC Swimming World Championships winning Bronze in the 2013 IPC Swimming World Championships, setting a British record; four Golds, a Silver and a Bronze in the 2015 World Championships setting three European records and becoming GB's highest medal earner of the Championships, and three Golds at the World Para Swimming Championships in 2019, setting three British records and two Championship records, repeating this in the 2022 World Championships in Madeira where she broke three World Records. Kearney also won Gold and Bronze at the World Para Swimming European Championships in 2018. Kearney is a multiple British, European and World record holder.
Alice Tai, is a British paralympic swimmer. Tai competes in the SB8, SM8 and S8. She has represented Great Britain at European and World Championships and at the Commonwealth and Paralympic Games, gold medals at all levels.
Rebecca Katharine Redfern is a British visually impaired para-swimmer from Droitwich who competes in S13/SB13/SM13 disability categories. She has held British, European and World records in SB13 100m breaststroke.
McKenzie Coan is an American swimmer. At the 2012 Summer Paralympics in London, she swam the 400m Freestyle in the S8 category. Coan was one of four S8 category swimmers chosen to compete for Team USA at the games. She later had her breakout games in the 2016 Summer Paralympics, where she would go on to win 3 gold medals in the category S7 50, 100, and 400M Freestyle races, with an additional silver medal in the 34-point women's 4 × 100 m Freestyle relay. In the process of getting her gold medal in the 50M Freestyle she also set a new Paralympic Record.
Sümeyye Boyacı is a Turkish Paralympic swimmer. She competes in the disability category of S5 in freestyle, backstroke and butterfly, specializing in sprint events.
Antonio Fantin is an Italian swimmer who competes in Paralympic S5 and SM5 events. He won the International Sports Prize World Athlete of the Year award in 2022.
The 2019 World Para Swimming Championships was the tenth edition of the World Para Swimming Championships run by the International Paralympic Committee (IPC). The championships were held from February to June in seven countries across five continents and served as a qualifying event for Paralympic swimming at the 2020 Summer Paralympics. The event was sponsored by Allianz.
Israel competed at the 2020 Summer Paralympics in Tokyo from 24 August to 5 September 2021. The delegation includes 33 athletes – 18 women and 15 men – competing in 11 sports: athletics, badminton, boccia, goalball, paracanoeing, powerlifting, rowing, shooting, swimming, table tennis, and wheelchair tennis.
Carlotta Gilli is a partially sighted Italian Paralympic swimmer who competes in international level events. She holds twelve world records in her class. She won five medals at the 2020 Summer Paralympics.
Husnah Kukundakwe is a Ugandan swimmer. She is the country's only classified paralympic swimmer. Her first appearance at the World Championships in London was mentioned among the International Paralympic Committee's (IPC's) Top 10 Moments of 2019.
Serbia competed at the 2020 Summer Paralympics in Tokyo, Japan, from 24 August to 5 September 2021.
Katie Crowhurst is a British visually impaired para athlete who has competed internationally for Great Britain in both para swimming and paratriathlon.
This article lists the parasports events for 2024. Main event for 2024 will be 2024 Summer Paralympics.
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