S13, SB13, SM13 are disability swimming classifications used for categorising swimmers based on their level of disability. Jane Buckley, writing for the

Sporting Wheelies The Sporting Wheelies and Disabled Association is the peak body for sport, recreation and fitness for people with a physical disability or vision impairment in the Australian state of Queensland. The not-for-profit organisation's mission was ' ...

, describes the swimmers in this classification as having: "Swimmers who are the most sighted but are considered to be blind according to the IBSA B3."

History

The classification was created by the International Paralympic Committee and has roots in a 2003 attempt to address "the overall objective to support and co-ordinate the ongoing development of accurate, reliable, consistent and credible sport focused classification systems and their implementation." For the

2016 Summer Paralympics The 2016 Summer Paralympics (), the 15th Summer Paralympic Games, were a major international multi-sport event for disabled sports, athletes with disabilities governed by the International Paralympic Committee, held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, fro ...

in Rio, the International Paralympic Committee had a zero classification at the Games policy. This policy was put into place in 2014, with the goal of avoiding last minute changes in classes that would negatively impact athlete training preparations. All competitors needed to be internationally classified with their classification status confirmed prior to the Games, with exceptions to this policy being dealt with on a case-by-case basis.

Sport

This classification is for

swimming Swimming is the self-propulsion of a person through water, or other liquid, usually for recreation, sport, exercise, or survival. Locomotion is achieved through coordinated movement of the limbs and the body to achieve hydrodynamic thrust that r ...

. In the classification title, S represents Freestyle, Backstroke and Butterfly strokes. SB means breaststroke. SM means individual medley. Jane Buckley, writing for the

, describes the swimmers in this classification as having: "Swimmers who are the most sighted but are considered to be blind according to the IBSA B3."

Getting classified

Internationally, the classification is done by the International Blind Sports Association. In Australia, to be classified in this category, athletes contact the

Australian Paralympic Committee Paralympics Australia (PA) previously called the Australian Paralympic Committee (APC) (1998–2019) is the National Paralympic Committee in Australia for the Paralympic Games movement. It oversees the preparation and management of Australian tea ...

or their state swimming governing body. In the United States, classification is handled by the

United States Paralympic Committee The United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee (USOPC) is the National Olympic Committee and the National Paralympic Committee for the United States. It was founded in 1895 as the United States Olympic Committee, and is headquartered in Col ...

on a national level. The classification test has three components: "a bench test, a water test, observation during competition." American swimmers are assessed by four people: a medical classifier, two general classifiers and a technical classifier.

Competitions

For this classification, organisers of the Paralympic Games have the option of including the following events on the Paralympic programme: 50 m, 100 m and 400 m Freestyle, 100 m Backstroke, 100 m Breaststroke, 100 m Butterfly, 200 m Individual Medley, and Freestyle Relay and Medley Relay.

Records

In the S13 50 m Freestyle Long Course, the men's world record is held by Oleksii Fedyna and the women's world record is held by Yvonne Hopf. In the S13 100 m Freestyle Long Course, the men's world record is held by South Africa's Charles Bouwer and the women's world record is held by Canada's Valerie Grand-Maison. In the SB13 100 m breaststroke, the women's world record is held by

Fotimakhon Amilova Fotimakhon Amilova (born 11 February 1999) is an Uzbeki Paralympic swimmer who represented Uzbekistan at the 2016 Summer Paralympics. She set a world record at the female SB13 100 m breaststroke Breaststroke is a human swimm ...

Competitors

Swimmers who have competed in this classification include Dmytro Aleksyeyev, Kelley Becherer and Charl Bouwer who all won medals in their class at the 2008 Paralympics. American swimmers who have been classified by the United States Paralympic Committee as being in this class include Eric Chausse, Natalio Abar, and Blake Adams.

References

{{Para-swimming classifications Swimming at the Summer Paralympics Parasports classifications