Australia’s Paralympic swimming team has been named for Paris 2024 with the squad looking to better the 33 medals won in the Tokyo 2020 pool.

Three-time Paralympic gold medallist Brenden Hall will participate in an Australian-para swimming record fifth Games, while Ahmed Kelly and Grant Patterson will be at their fourth.

Seven debutants will also represent Australia in Paris.

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Australian Paralympic Swimming Team for Paris 2024

• Jesse Aungles
• Emily Beecroft
• Ricky Betar
• Lewis Bishop
• Rowan Crothers
• Katja Dedekind
• Tom Gallagher
• Jasmine Greenwood
• Brenden Hall
• Benjamin Hance
• Timothy Hodge
• Jack Ireland
• Ella Jones
• Jenna Jones
• Ahmed Kelly
• Alexa Leary
• Paige Leonhardt
• Maddie McTernan
• Jake Michel
• Chloe Osborn
• Grant Patterson
• Lakeisha Patterson
• Col Pearse
• Alex Saffy
• Callum Simpson
• Keira Stephens
• Ruby Storm
• Holly Warn
• Rachael Watson
• Poppy Wilson

What are the classifications for Paralympic swimming?

• S1-S10 for athletes with physical impairments.
• S11-S13 for athletes with visual impairments.
• S14 for athletes with intellectual disabilities.
• S15 for athletes with hearing impairments.

For swimmers with a physical disability, there are ten different classification classes, starting with S1 to S10.

The classes are graded from most serious physical impairments (for example those who need a wheelchair when out of the pool) in S1, to S10 which is described as “minimal weakness affecting their legs, missing feet, a missing leg below the knee or problems with their hips”; these can include athletes with amputations or cerebral palsy.

There are three classes for visually impaired swimmers (S11-S13), with those at the lower end being completely blind or almost blind; S11 swimmers compete with blacked-out glasses and have a ‘tapper’ who uses a pole to let them know when they are near the end of the pool.

The final two classes – S14 and S15 – are for athletes with intellectual disabilities and hearing loss respectively.

How do swimmers qualify for the Paralympics?

Athletes can qualify for the Paralympics in two ways.

The most common way is for the top two athletes in each event who are below the benchmark qualification time set by Swimming Australia.

This is similar to how swimmers in the Olympics qualify for their events.

There is another way Paralympians can qualify that is unique; the Swimming Australia rules state an athlete can be nominated by the Australian Olympic Committee (AOC) and ultimately selected by the National Head Coach to compete at the games even if they don’t meet the qualifying time.