What this page is — and what it is not

Para swimming uses the same pool, the same pads, and the same heat-sheet software as the rest of the meet. What changes is the grouping: World Para Swimming allocates a sport class so the impact of an eligible impairment on swimming is reduced as a competitive factor. World Para Swimming’s classification overview is blunt: having an impairment is not, by itself, enough to compete in Para sport. There is an eligible-impairment list and minimum impairment criteria. Classifiers apply those rules. You do not.

This article decodes Saturday’s letters: class prefixes, exception codes, who is allowed on deck, and what to write down afterwards. It will not tell you which class “fits” a diagnosis, rank impairments, or turn a child into an inspiration story. If you need a class, use the national pathway later on this page — not a blog table.

Not a DIY class

Do not guess S7 from a Facebook chart. Do not tell another parent their child “looks like an S10.” Classification is an evaluation: medical documentation, a panel, often a water assessment, then a status (review, confirmed, and so on). The club can point you at the form. The internet cannot allocate the number.

S, SB and SM — the prefixes

World Para Swimming names a sport class with a prefix and a number. The prefix is the stroke group. The number is the class. Current WPS wording, from the same classification page:

  • S — freestyle, butterfly and backstroke events.
  • SB — breaststroke.
  • SM — individual medley. WPS says the SM prefix is given to athletes competing in IM events. It is not a sports class, but an entry index: calculated as (3×S + SB) / 4. For classes S1–4, who swim a three-discipline medley, the formula is (2S + SB) / 3.

That is why the same child can be S9 and SB8. Breaststroke asks different things of the body than free, fly and back. Classifiers often allocate different S and SB classes. SM is then derived. You do not pick SM off a menu.

S
Free, fly, back — one class for those three strokes
SB
Breaststroke only. Often a different number from S
SM
IM entry index, calculated from S and SB — not a third impairment group

The numbers: 1–10, 11–13, 14

World Para Swimming groups three impairment types. The wording below is theirs, shortened for a parent who needs the heat sheet, not a medical lecture.

Physical — S1–S10 / SB1–SB9 / SM1–SM10. Ten sport classes, numbered 1–10. Athletes with different impairments can share a class, because the class is allocated on the impact on swimming, not on the name of the health condition. Classifiers use a point system on land and a water assessment. Lower numbers mean more activity limitation in the water; higher numbers mean less, while still meeting eligibility. Do not map a diagnosis onto a number from the gallery.

Vision — S/SB11–13. Three classes. S/SB11: very low visual acuity and/or no light perception. S/SB12: higher visual acuity than S11 and/or a visual field of less than 5 degrees radius. S/SB13: the least severe vision impairment eligible for Paralympic sport — highest visual acuity of the three and/or a visual field of less than 20 degrees radius. S/SB11 swimmers wear blackened goggles (WPS lists the prosthetic-eye exceptions). All S/SB11 swimmers must use a tapper; S/SB12 and S/SB13 may choose.

Intellectual — S/SB14. WPS: S14 swimmers have an intellectual impairment which typically leads to difficulties with pattern recognition, sequencing and memory, or a slower reaction time, which impact sport performance in general. That is the class description. It is not a comment on the child in the next lane.

National Multi-Class programmes sometimes add domestic classes that are not on the Paralympic S1–14 list — hearing, transplant, and extra intellectual classes in Australia, for example. Those live on the NGB page. Do not mix them into a WPS heat in your head.

Codes of Exception — the other letters

Once a class is allocated, classifiers also assign Codes of Exception: short letters and numbers so technical officials know which rule exceptions apply. Aquatics GB puts it simply — the codes exist so a swimmer is not disqualified for a rule they cannot physically meet. The live parent file is still World Para Swimming’s Codes of Exception PDF (2023). The February 2026 WPS Rules moved those codes into an appendix; the PDF remains the readable sheet. Officials officiate the rules, not the code list as a substitute. A para swim can still be a DQ.

You do not need the full sheet memorised. The ones that change Saturday from the stands:

  • T — tapper required (or elected, for some visual classes).
  • Y — starting device: a strap, cord or towel so the swimmer can grip the start. Must be approved before use.
  • E — unable to grip for the backstroke start; they may hold the top of the pad instead.
  • A — assistance at the start or finish: support staff to enter, reach the block, or leave the water.
  • H — hearing impairment: light, signal or touch start.
  • B — blackened goggles (compulsory for S/SB/SM11, with the WPS exceptions).
  • 0 (nil) — no exceptions apply.

Stroke codes (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, 12, +) tell officials how a start, touch or kick may look: one-hand start, one-hand or simultaneous-intent touch, part of the upper body must touch, a specified foot must turn out, leg drag or intent to kick. The PDF is the decoder. The Referee still applies the rulebook. Do not argue a 2 versus a 3 from the balcony.

Avoid this

Do not invent exception codes so “they won’t get DQed.” Classifiers assign them. Unapproved starting devices and tapping poles can themselves become a DQ. Do not walk onto deck with a broom handle you found in the plant room.

A tapper is not a taper

One word collision, then we leave the training page alone. A tapper is a meet-day volunteer who uses a pole with a soft end to notify a visually impaired swimmer that the wall is coming — a single or double tap. World Para Swimming: tappers are compulsory for S/SB/SM11. If a tapper is required at both ends, a separate tapper works each end. The device must be approved. That job is not the coach, and it is not a championship rest week — the training word is what a taper is.

Who taps is in the meet pack and the team’s plan. Some clubs train named volunteers. Confirm it with the coach before Saturday, the same way you confirm marshalling. Do not assume you can step to the bulkhead because you are the parent.

Who classifies — the NGB, not the car park

International rules sit with World Para Swimming. National classification — the appointment you actually book — sits with the national body. Pick yours. Do not mix the forms.

  • Ireland. Swim Ireland’s para swimming page points at the IPC class set and at Paralympics Ireland classification for the national pathway. At domestic meets, para athletes often race in the same heats as everyone else; internationally they race in class.
  • Great Britain. Aquatics GB classification — physical, visual and intellectual routes, then exception codes and status letters. British classification first; international later on the pathway. Mixed-meet procedure is on their exception codes page.
  • United States. National classification for Paralympic divisions is under U.S. Paralympics as the National Paralympic Committee. Start at U.S. Paralympics Swimming classification. USA Swimming meets may host para or mixed events; the class still comes from that evaluation, not from the entry screen.
  • Canada. Swimming Canada has been the national sport organisation for para swimming since 1993. Classification process, eligible impairments, and the live roster sit on Swimming Canada’s classification page.
  • Australia. Classification is the door to Multi-Class swimming. Swimming Australia’s classification page is the masterlist and the MC point-score explanation. Prove an eligible classification before you enter MC events.

Each of those pages will ask for medical documentation. That is their process. This article will not list tests or what to bring. Email the classification lead your NGB names.

Meet day: who is on deck, where you sit

The poolside map does not change because a heat is Multi-Class. Officials, coaches, team managers, named volunteers, and the swimmers. You are in the stands unless Saturday’s pack has given you a job. Marshalling and the call room is still the route the child walks. A tapper stands at the end of the lane they have been assigned. They are not a second coach, and they are not a spectator with a pole. Do not brief them mid-race from the gallery.

Assistance (code A) is named support staff at the start or the exit — arranged with the coach and the Referee before the session, not shouted from row four. Starting devices and tapping poles get checked; unapproved kit is how a legal swim becomes a DQ.

Australia already covers approved Multi-Class support on deck in the first Australian carnival briefing — a named pass, usually with a Working with Children Check, not a parent wandering the blocks. Other countries write the same idea into the meet information: support person, carer accreditation, or “no spectators on pool deck.” Believe that document.

The tapper works the wall. The coach works the session. You work the stands. Three jobs. Do not combine them.

Heat sheets, Multi-Class packs, and the time you keep

The start list may print the class beside the name — S10, SB9, SM10 — and sometimes the exception string. Hy-Tek and Meet Manager can carry both if the host entered them. Meet Mobile may show the same letters, or hide them until you open the event. An open-looking heat with one para swimmer can still be correct: many domestic meets seed by time, then score Multi-Class or para results separately. The pack says whether this is an MC event, a para pack inside an able-bodied meet, or a fully integrated session. Read that paragraph.

Names vary: Multi-Class, MC, para, multi-classification. Aquatics GB talks about competitions with MC entry conditions. Swimming Australia’s whole domestic format is Multi-Class. Swim Ireland often races para swimmers in the same heats as everyone else at club level. The letters on the page still mean the same WPS class. The scoring method does not.

Stroke rules still exist. Exception codes change how a legal touch or kick can look; they do not delete the rulebook. If a DQ slip comes — event, lane, infraction — read it, give it to the coach, stay off the deck. What a DQ means is the procedure. This page is only why the slip might mention a code you have not seen at an open meet.

Afterwards, keep the clock the way the result was swum. Official time, that event, that course, that sport class. An S9 100 free on a 50-metre course is not an open 100 free and it is not a short-course PB. Do not convert it into a class they did not race. Do not drop the class so the family spreadsheet looks “normal.” Write the number that was official, with the labels that make it true.

One line in the log

Event, course, official time, sport class as printed. Notes if you want the exception codes. That is enough. You are not building a classification file. You are keeping Saturday.

FAQ

They are World Para Swimming sport-class prefixes. S is freestyle, butterfly and backstroke. SB is breaststroke. SM is individual medley — World Para Swimming says SM is an entry index calculated from the S and SB classes, not a separate impairment category. The number after the letter is the class a classifier allocated.
No. Parents do not self-assign a class. Classification is a national governing-body pathway: classifiers, medical documentation, and minimum impairment criteria under World Para Swimming rules. Start with Swim Ireland and Paralympics Ireland, Aquatics GB, U.S. Paralympics Swimming, Swimming Canada, or Swimming Australia — not a blog table.
A tapper is a meet-day volunteer with a pole who taps a visually impaired swimmer approaching the wall. World Para Swimming code T. Tappers are compulsory for S/SB/SM11. It is not a training taper. If a tapper is needed at both ends, a separate person works each end. Training word: what a taper is.
Letters and numbers classifiers assign so technical officials know which rule exceptions apply — tapper, starting device, one-hand touch, and so on. They guide officials; officials still officiate the World Para Swimming rules. A para swim can still be a DQ. Current sheet: Codes of Exception PDF.
Only if the meet pack names you for that job. Spectators stay in the stands. A tapper is a named volunteer, not a parent pass. A coach is the coach. Multi-Class or para support on deck is an approved role — Australia’s first carnival briefing covers that pass; other NGBs put the same rule in Saturday’s information. Marshalling map: call room and marshalling.
Yes. Log the official time in the class and the course they actually swam — S9 100 free long course is not an open 100 free, and short course is not long course. Same archive job as everyone else. Do not invent a converted open-class PB from a para heat.