Swimming Opportunities

Click to view our Virtus & Paralympic Masterlist of Eligible U.S. Swimmers

A. VIRTUS SWIMMING:
Athletes Without Limits offers Virtus Eligiblity and organizes U.S. Teams of wwimmers with Intellectual Impairment, Autism and Down Syndrome to compete as part of  AWL-USA National Teams at Virtus Global Games and other World Championships.

B. PARALYMPIC SWIMMING:
Athletes Without Limits also confirms eligibility for athletes who want to pursuing Paralympic Swimming opportunities in the “S14/SB14” class for Intellectual Impairment at U.S. Paralympic managed-events or other events that follow Paralympic Classification.

The first step for interested athletes is to work with Athletes Without Limits to complete our National eligibility application to determine eligibility for AWL-Virtus and/or Paralympic competition.

A. ATHLETES WITHOUT LIMITS / VIRTUS SWIMMING

AWL NATIONAL TEAMS COMPETING AT VIRTUS EVENTS:

Virtus: World Intellectual Impairment Sport (formerly called Inas) competitors are an elite group of athletes from around the world making great achievements in swimming. See the records and rankings on the Virtus website to see just how fast world champion athletes with intellectual disability are. We are excited to see US swimmers among those rankings since the startup of Athletes Without Limits and look forward to more in years to come.

AWL’s US National Team at 2019 Brisbane Global Games

View our event calendar for upcoming Virtus Swimming events for which Athletes Without Limits will organize US Team Selection and travel including: Virtus World Championships and Global Games. Virtus offers competitions for athletes in three eligibility groups: II1-Intellectual Impairment, II2-Additional Disability/Down Syndrome and II3 Autism (w/IQ of 76 or higher) and offers a full program of individual swim events, strokes and distances.

Upcoming Virtus International Events:

  • 2023 Virtus Global Games (France)
  • Unfortunately throughout COVID-19 several Virtus events had to be cancelled by event organizers including the 2022 Virtus Americas Regional Championships (Brazil) & 2021 Virtus Swimming World Championships (Brazil) and 2020 Virtus Swimming World Championships (Hong Kong)
  • 2019 Inas Global Games (Brisbane)
  • 2017 Inas Swimming World Championships (Mexico)
  • 2015 Inas Global Games Swimming World Championships (Ecuador)
  • 2014 Guayaquil Para Swimming Open (Ecuador)
  • 2011 Inas Global Games Swimming World Championships (Italy)
  • 2009 Inas Global Games Swimming World Championships (Czech Republic)

AWL HOSTED/SANCTIONED US EVENTS:

Occasionally Athletes Without Limits partners with Host Teams and/or Meets to host Virtus-sanctioned National events.Past events include:

Leslie Cichocki

AWL’s Leslie Cichocki is the first swimmer with intellectual impairment to qualify for the U.S. Paralympic Swim Team

B. PARALYMPIC SWIMMING

Swimming is one of three Paralympic sports that re-included athletes with intellectual impairment starting with the 2012 London Games. Events vary from developmental regional meets (such as the Fred Lamback Disability Meet in Georgia) to qualifying for U.S. Paralympic Trials and the Paralympic Games. Athletes Without Limits eligibility is the first step for U.S. athletes looking to compete in Paralympic events.

  • To be eligible for Paralympics athletes must meet the Virtus II1 Criteria for Intellectual Disability (IQ 75 or lower, Significant Adaptive Limitations, Onset before 18)
  • Visit our Paralympic Eligibility & Classification Page to learn more about who is eligible to participate in Paralympic-sanctioned and other events that use Paralympic classification for entry.
  • Visit our Paralympic Games page to learn about AWL swimmers with intellectual impairment who have qualified for the Games.

The first step for interested athletes is to work with Athletes Without Limits to complete our eligibility application to determine eligibility for AWL-Virtus and/or Paralympic competition.

Virtus Eligibility Groups & Paralympic Classification
Virtus has expanded our competition to athletes with intellectual impairment in the three eligibility groups below, while Paralympics has one class for athletes with intellectual impairment (which is called Class S14 in Swimming). Only athletes who meet the Virtus II1 criteria are eligible for Paralympic Class 11 competition.

Virtus II1-Intellectual Disability (IQ 75 or lower, Significant Adaptive Limitations, Onset before 18)
Virtus II1 athletes are eligible to compete in Paralympic Swimming Class S14/SB14 Intellectual Impairment

Virtus II2-Intellectual Disability with Significant Additional Impairment (including Tri21 Down Syndrome)
Virtus II2 athletes can compete together with II1 athletes in Paralympic classes since they also meet the II1 Criteria (and provide all required IQ and Adaptive evidence above with their eligibility application).

Virtus II3-Autism with IQ 76 or higher (Sometimes called ‘High Functioning Autism’).
Virtus II3 athletes are not eligible for Paralympics, which is only open to athletes with an IQ of 75 or lower.

The first step for interested athletes is to work with Athletes Without Limits to complete our eligibility application to determine eligibility for AWL-Virtus and/or Paralympic competition.

Athletes Without Limits

US Member of Virtus:
World Intellectual Impairment Sport
Mailing Address:
740 NE 3RD ST, STE 3-332
Bend, OR 97701
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US Member of Virtus

Athletes Without Limits oversees eligibility for US athletes with intellectual impairments competing in: Virtus (formerly Inas), Paralympics, World Para Swimming, World Para Athletics, U.S. Paralympics, World Taekwondo, ITTF, USA Table Tennis, FISA, US Rowing, World Karate, USA Para Karate, EDGA and USGA Adaptive Golf.

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