For Para sport athletes in Canada, 2026 (IPC Classification Code 2025). Covers what classification is, eligible impairments, how evaluation works, sport class statuses, changes to your class, protests and who can attend with you.
Classification is the system that determines which athletes are eligible to compete in a Para sport and how athletes are grouped together for competition. Athletes are placed in a "sport class" based on their physical, intellectual or sensorial function in that sport.
It aims to reward sporting ability, including technical skill, fitness, mental focus and tactics.
No. Classification is sport-specific, so an athlete who is eligible in one Para sport may not be eligible in another. Each sport defines its own sport classes, and the criteria used to assign them are published per sport.
Sources: https://paralympic.ca/sports/classification/ and https://www.paralympic.org/classification
The Canadian Paralympic Committee lists 10 eligible impairment types: impaired muscle power, impaired passive range of movement, limb deficiency, leg length difference, short stature, hypertonia, ataxia, athetosis, visual impairment and intellectual impairment.
An athlete needs an underlying health condition that leads to a permanent eligible impairment. Each International Sport Federation decides which impairments its sport includes, and minimum impairment criteria are specific to each sport and each eligible impairment.
Sources: https://paralympic.ca/sports/classification/ and https://www.paralympic.org/classification
You are placed in a sport class through an evaluation session run under your sport's classification rules. Depending on your impairment, it may include:
Your diagnostic information must be submitted before the session, and sessions usually take place in the days before an international competition. National classification and international classification are often governed by different rules.
Sources: https://paralympic.ca/sports/classification/ and https://www.paralympic.org/classification
Each sport's International Sport Federation regulates classification for its sport. Athletes are assessed by a panel of accredited classifiers trained by the federation, typically two or more classifiers, guided by published sport-specific criteria.
Panels are made up of classifiers certified by the relevant federation in one impairment group: intellectual, physical or vision.
Sources: https://paralympic.ca/sports/classification/ and https://www.paralympic.org/classification
After an evaluation session you receive a sport class and a sport class status. The status shows whether and when you may need to be classified again.
Sources: https://paralympic.ca/sports/classification/ and https://www.paralympic.org/classification
Yes. Where possible, your status is confirmed before the Paralympic Games. Athletes with changing or progressive conditions may be classified several times over their careers, including at the Games.
Reclassification may be needed for athletes with progressive or fluctuating conditions, or after a federation changes its classification rules. A Review status is given for a fluctuating or progressive impairment, or to a young athlete who has not yet reached physical maturity.
Sources: https://paralympic.ca/sports/classification/ and https://www.paralympic.org/classification
Only a National Federation or a National Paralympic Committee can lodge a protest. Individual athletes cannot lodge one themselves.
Each sport sets its own protest rules, covering who may lodge a protest, what can be protested, timelines, required documents and fees.
An athlete may bring one support person to classification, plus one interpreter if needed. Both must be National Representatives.
Evaluation sessions usually take place in the days before an international competition, and your diagnostic information must be submitted first.
The IPC Athlete Classification Code is the base document for classification across the Paralympic Movement. The current edition is the 2025 Code, which took effect on 1 January 2025 (winter sports on the Milano Cortina 2026 programme followed on 1 July 2026).
The Code binds all IPC Members and Recognised International Federations. Each International Sport Federation then regulates classification for its own sport, and its rules must comply with the Code.
Sources: https://www.paralympic.org/classification-code and https://paralympic.ca/sports/classification/