Masters Swimming is all about promoting a fit and healthy lifestyle in a fun and supportive way.
Swimmers with a disability have always been welcomed & included in our competitions, and all swimmers, regardless of gender, age or disability, will be seeded in all events according to their nominated entry time, but the decision by Masters Swimming Australia to encourage, and Masters Swimming NSW to accept the challenge to integrate MultiClass competition into Masters events, adds another layer of complexity.
Specifically, the integration of MultiClass competition with able-bodied Masters competition requires a change to how the overall competition results will be calculated.
Whereas the existing Masters results system takes into account a swimmer’s age & gender, it makes no allowance for a disability, and the existing MultiClass results system takes into account a swimmers disability, but makes no allowance for a swimmer’s age.
A new results system has been adopted, where each swim time is evaluated and allocated points through a comparison of their swim time and the current World record – using the FINA points formula;
- for able-bodied swimmers, the points for each swim will be based on the FINA Masters world record for their age group
- for swimmers who choose to nominate an approved MultiClass classification for the meet, the points for each swim will be based on the FINA MultiClass world record for their approved classification, but adjusted by a conversion factor relevant to their age group
Swimmer’s placings in each event for the 2020 MSA National Championships will be ranked according to the above points calculation, rather than strictly on the time swum.
This means that while the relative placing amongst able-bodied swimmers within each age group will not change, MultiClass swimmers may be rewarded for a good swim in their classification by being advanced in the age group placings.
More detail on the formula used, relevant records, classification & conversion factors can be viewed on the MSNSW website at: https://mastersswimmingnsw.org.au/competition/multi-class-swimming/
