Technology, fairness and the spirit of para swimming

Swim coach Sophie Etheridge reports from the British National Junior Para Swimming Championships in Coventry

I recently spent a weekend in Coventry at the British National Junior Para Swimming Championships, supporting a young swimmer from Scotland whom I mentor. It was her first time representing Scotland and I wasn’t missing it.

Although I swam competitively as a child and have attended hundreds of swimming galas, this was my first experience of a major para swimming competition. Many things felt familiar: the nerves on poolside, the excitement before a race, and the celebrations after a personal best. Yet there were also differences, some subtle, easy to miss unless you looked closely.

One aspect that fascinated me was the technology and mathematics behind multiclassification racing. Multiclassification races allow swimmers with different disabilities and classifications to compete in the same race. At first, I found the results confusing. In one race, the swimmer who appeared to finish last was announced as the winner. How could that be?

As I watched the scoreboard, I noticed a figure beside each swimmer’s lane number, name and classification, changing rapidly and counting down at different times for different athletes. I’d never seen it before, and spent much of the day trying to work out what it meant. Eventually, curiosity got the better of me and I went to ask.

The answer was simple but clever. To create more racing opportunities at County, Regional and National level, they use multi-classification events (MC races). In these, positions are determined by relative performance, not time. The number counting down from 1000 represented the British Record for each swimmer’s classification. The swimmer closest to, or above, 1000 at the end won the race. In short, the system calculates each swimmer’s performance in real time against the current British Record for their classification, so athletes with very different disabilities can compete together fairly and meaningfully.

This system isn’t unique to the UK; World Para Swimming uses a points system for the same purpose.

Without this technology, multi-classification racing simply wouldn’t be possible. It allows swimmers to race alongside one another while ensuring results reflect performance rather than the severity or nature of an individual’s disability. It’s a brilliant example of technology breaking down barriers and creating opportunity.

Watching these races also made me reflect on my own swimming before I became disabled. I think I finally worked out why the atmosphere felt so different. There were far fewer “death stares” behind the starting blocks and far more smiles, encouragement and genuine support.

In para swimming, whether in a pool or in open water, much of the challenge is personal. Most of the time, you aren’t racing the swimmers beside you; you are racing yourself, striving to improve, overcome challenges and achieve your goals.

Perhaps that is why para swimming feels like so much more than a sport. It feels like a community.

In Coventry there were swimmers from across the UK, of all ages and sizes, with a huge range of disabilities and life experiences. Some were record holders, others were competing at a major championship for the first time. Yet everyone was cheered on, everyone was congratulated, everyone belonged.

Technology may have provided the calculations that made the racing fair, but it was the people who made the event special. By the end of the weekend, I realised I wasn’t attending a para swimming competition at all. I was simply attending a swimming gala, one where every athlete had the opportunity to shine.