Paralympics 2024: A guide to Para-swimming at the Paris Games
Ellie Challis will be competing for Great Britain at her second Games in Paris
- Published
Key information
Dates: 29 August-7 September
Venue: Paris La Defense Arena
Gold medals on offer: 141
Paralympic swimming events and classifications
Races take place in a standard 50-metre pool in the freestyle, backstroke, breaststroke and butterfly disciplines over distances which range from 50m to 400m.
Swimmers are divided into 14 classes. Those with physical impairments are classified from S1 to S10. The lower the classification number, the more severe the impairments.
Classification is based on how an athlete moves in the water, so athletes with different impairments compete against each other but they will be deemed to have a similar level of impairment in competition.
An athlete's classification may change for different swimming strokes because the nature of their impairment may affect their ability to perform a particular stroke.
Swimmers with visual impairments are classified from S11 (little or no vision and wear blacked-out goggles) to S13 (less than 20 degrees of vision). Swimmers who are blind have an assistant called a 'tapper' who may use a pole to tap the swimmer to warn them they are approaching the end of a length.
The S14 class is for swimmers who have a learning disability.
Which athletes will be competing for GB?
The British team features some experienced campaigners including Tokyo champions Maisie Summers-Newton and Tully Kearney, along with Stephen Clegg and Alice Tai, who missed Tokyo because of injury and subsequently had her right leg amputated below the knee.
They will be joined by some exciting Paralympic debutants including William Ellard, Poppy Maskill and Olivia Newman-Baronius who have good chances in the S14 category as well as Brock Whiston and exciting 13-year-old Iona Winnifrith, who will be the youngest member of the ParalympicsGB team in Paris.
Who are the other challengers?
Italy topped the medal table at last year’s World Championships in Manchester ahead of Ukraine, China, Brazil and Great Britain.
The Italians were led by Simone Barlaam, who came home with six golds while Stefano Raimondi landed five golds and two silvers.
The Italians were also the leading nation at the European Open Championships in Madeira in April but Russian and Belarus swimmers made a big impact on their return to international competition as part of a Neutral Paralympic Athlete team.
Did you know?
Paris could be a final swansong for American star Jessica Long.
Born in a Russian orphanage to a teenage mother, Long had both legs amputated below the knee after being born with fibular hemimelia and was adopted by an American family.
Sport formed a key part of her life and she has gone on to forge a successful career both in the sporting arena and outside as a speaker, advocate and author.
She made her Paralympic debut in Athens as a 12 year old, winning three gold medals in the pool and has gone on to enjoy a stellar career with 29 Paralympic medals, including 16 golds, and over 50 World Championship medals and a host of world records.
Now 32, she won two golds at last year's World Championships in Manchester and will hope to add to her long list of honours in Paris.
ParalympicsGB Tokyo 2020 medals
26 – eight gold, nine silver and nine bronze