Para swimming is one of the largest and most popular programs at the Paralympic Games. Competitions in Paris will be held from Thursday, August 29 to Saturday, September 7.

In a single event, athletes with very different impairments will compete against one another. The sport classes are designated not on the impairment itself, rather the impact the impairment has on swimming, and are broken down into three categories – physical, vision and intellectual impairments.

A higher number seen as part of a classification signifies a less severe impairment, while lower numbers denote the most severe. Unlike other Paralympic sports, the use of a prostheses is not permitted in para swimming at the Paralympics.

Refer to the table below for more details on the sport classes as defined by the Paralympic system of classification.

La Défense Arena will be transformed for the 2024 Paris Olympic and Paralympic Games. The home of the French rugby union club Racing 92, as well as temporary stop for touring shows and concerts, will make room for roughly 660,000 gallons of water in the form of an Olympic-size swimming pool thanks to its modular, multipurpose design.

• 50m freestyle S4, S10, S11, S13 (women’s-men’s)
• 50m freestyle S6, S8 (women’s)
• 50m freestyle S3, S5, S7, S9 (men’s)
• 100m freestyle S3, S7, S9, S11 (women’s)
• 100m freestyle S4, S6, S8 (men’s)
• 100m freestyle S5, S10, S12 (women’s-men’s)
• 200m freestyle S2, S3, S4 (men’s)
• 200m freestyle S5, S14 (women’s-men’s)
• 400m freestyle S10 (women’s)
• 400m freestyle S6, S7, S8, S9, S11, S13 (women’s-men’s)
• 50m back S2, S3, S4, S5 (women’s-men’s)
• 50m back S1 (men’s)
• 100m back S2, S6, S8, S9, S10, S11, S12, S13, S14 (women’s-men’s)
• 100m back S1, S7 (men’s)
• 50m breast SB3 (women’s-men’s)
• 50m breast SB2 (men’s)
• 100m breast SB4, SB5, SB6, SB8, SB9, SB11, SB13, SB14 (women’s-men’s)
• 100m breast SB3 (men’s)
• 100m breast SB7, SB12 (women’s)
• 50m fly S5, S6, S7 (women’s-men’s)
• 100m fly S8, S9, S10, S13, S14 (women’s-men’s)
• 100m fly S11, S12 (men’s)
• 150m individual medley SM3 (men’s)
• 150m individual medley SM4 (women’s-men’s)
• 200m individual medley SM6, SM7, SM8, SM9, SM10, SM11, SM13, SM14 (women’s-men’s)
• 200m individual medley SM5 (women)

Jessica Long

29-time Paralympic medalist Jessica Long could continue to climb the all-time Paralympic medal ranking in Paris. The 32-year-old, originally born in Siberia in Russia, needs just two medals to become the third-most decorated Paralympian in history. If she wins the 200m IM SM 8, an event she's owned since Beijing 2008, she'd become just the second Paralympian ever to win the same event at five consecutive Paralympics.

Mallory Weggemann

Mallory Weggemann of Eagan, Minnesota, who won two medals at the 2012 London Paralympics, earned three more in Tokyo: gold in the 200m IM SM7 and the 100m backstroke S7 and silver in the 50m butterfly S7. Upon returning home, Weggemann shifted her attention to another goal: becoming a mom. After navigating infertility with her husband, Jay Snyder, Weggemann gave birth to her daughter, Charlotte, in March 2023. At age 35, she'll hope to add to her five Paralympic medals in Paris.

Ali Truwit

24-year-old Ali Truwit is a new face in para swimming. That's because, last year, Truwit's life changed forever. Having just wrapped a successful collegiate swimming career at Yale, she was celebrating her graduation in Turks and Caicos when she became the victim of a near-fatal shark attack. She survived, but the attack cost her her left foot and part of her leg. Swimming became a central part of her recovery, both physical and mental. Now, just 15 months after the attack, Truwit is heading to Paris, where she will compete in the 100m and 400m freestyle and the 100m backstroke events at the Paralympics.