1. Introduction

European Aquatics is committed to promoting inclusive aquatic sport environments and to expanding participation opportunities for athletes with disabilities across its competitions and development programmes.
In line with this commitment, European Aquatics continues to strengthen the integration of Para Swimming within its event portfolio. The inclusion of Para Swimming events within the Paris 2026 European Swimming Championships represents an important step in advancing this vision, contributing to greater visibility, athlete opportunity, and collaboration across the aquatic sport ecosystem.
European Aquatics recognises the value of building bridges between mainstream aquatic competitions and Para sport structures. Through progressive integration, the organisation aims to support the development of Para Swimming across Europe while ensuring that competitions are delivered according to clear technical standards and fair participation principles.
The present document establishes the participation criteria applicable to Para Swimming athletes wishing to compete at the Paris 2026 European Swimming Championships.

2. Participation Principles

The Para Swimming programme within the Paris 2026 European Swimming Championships is designed to promote participation while maintaining appropriate competition standards.
For this reason, European Aquatics has adopted an inclusive participation model that allows broad representation from participating countries while ensuring fair competition conditions.

Para Swimming Events Programme

15th August
– 50 Women’s Freestyle – all classes
– 100 Men’s Freestyle – all classes

16th August
– 100 Women’s Freestyle – all classes
– 50 Men’s Freestyle – all classes

3. Eligibility of Athletes and Organisations

Participation in the Para Swimming events is open to athletes entered by National Federations or recognised disability sport organisations.
European Aquatics will accept entries from disability sport organisations that are not affiliated members of European Aquatics. However, in such cases, the organisation must be formally affiliated with the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) or recognised within the Paralympic sport structure.

4. Athlete Entries

To ensure balanced participation the following entry limits apply:

• Each country or recognised disability sport organisations may enter a maximum of four (4) male swimmers and four (4) female swimmers in each Para Swimming events.
• For final races, a maximum of two (2) swimmers per gender from the same country will be eligible to compete.
No overall maximum number of Para swimmers has been established for the competition. European Aquatics has adopted this approach in order to encourage the widest possible participation from across Europe.

5. Registration Procedure

All entries must be submitted through the European Aquatics Event Management System (>EMS) until 15th July 2026.
Organisations that do not yet have access to EMS platform should contact European Aquatics in advance in order to obtain the necessary credentials and access permissions.
Entries submitted outside EMS system will not be considered valid.

6. Entry Times

Entry times submitted for Para swimmers must be obtain 1st May 2025 until 15th July 2026:
• achieved in official competitions, and
• supported by verifiable competition results.

European Aquatics reserves the right to request evidence confirming the validity of entry times. Participating organisations must therefore ensure that documentation or publicly available results can be provided if requested.

7. Classification Requirements

Athletes must hold a recognised sport class within the Para Swimming classification system.

The following provisions apply:
• National classification will be accepted for the purposes of entry.
• Participating organisations must provide the classification documentation of each swimmer, including the classification sheet and relevant medical documentation.
• European Aquatics classifiers will review the documentation provided and may confirm or request additional information where necessary.

The final validation of classification for participation purposes remains under the authority of the event classification panel.

8. Sport Classes

The Para Swimming events at the Paris 2026 European Swimming Championships will include athletes in the following sport classes:
• S1 – S14 (physical, visual and intellectual impairments recognised under the World Para Swimming framework)
• S15, S16 and S21, according to European Aquatics competition structures.

9. Competition Format and Results

Competition results will be determined using a points-based system in order to allow comparison between swimmers from different sport classes.
The following scoring systems will apply:
• World Para Swimming (WPS) Points System for sport classes S1–S14
• World Aquatics Points System for sport classes S15, S16 and S21

European Aquatics reserves the right to clarify or adjust operational procedures where necessary to ensure the smooth organisation of the competition.
Any updates or additional technical information will be communicated through the official European Aquatics competition information channels.