Date: Sunday 30th – Monday 31st May
Venue: Manchester Aquatics Centre

Swimming was one of the first sports to be included in the Paralympic Games programme back in 1960. It remains one of the most popular sports at the Paralympics and has been an integral part of the Paralympic World Cup since its conception in 2005.

Whilst also representing their nation, in 2010 a team concept unique to Paralympic Sport will be rolled out across the BT PWC in which GB swimmers will compete against teams from the Americas, Europe and the Rest of the World, battling to gain enough points to win the trophy for their sport.

The swimming competition will play a further vital role for the this year’s BT Paralympic World Cup as this competition will be the last chance for athletes to gain points to push their team into the winning position to take home the overall BT Paralympic World Cup Trophy.

The best in GB will face fierce competition from world class international athletes competing across five different classes: Individual Medley, Butterfly, Backstroke, Freestyle and Breaststroke races in what promises to be an explosive finale to the BT PWC filmed live by the BBC.

Facts about Swimming

Races are held in long course format in the Manchester Aquatics Centre’s 50m pool and in any one class swimmers may start with a dive or in the water depending on their condition.

Lane orders for finals are decided from the times recorded in the heats (or by entry times in the case of a straight final). As the fastest qualifiers swim in the middle lanes, theoretically, this creates a spearhead format in the race and provides the spectators with the lanes to watch!

Classifications:

Classes 1-10 are allocated to swimmers with a physical disability.
Classes 11-13 are allocated to swimmers with a visual impairment
The prefix S denotes the class for Freestyle, Backstroke and Butterfly
The prefix SB denotes the class for Breaststroke
The prefix SM denotes the class for Individual Medley

The range is from the swimmers with severe disability (S1, SB1, SM1) to those with the minimal disability (S10, SB9, SM10).