Video: Multi-class (duration 2:11)
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Character named Marcus speaks throughout video.
Hi, I’m Marcus and I’m here to talk about Multi Class.
Multi Class sport brings students from multiple disability categories together to compete in meaningful competition.
Multi Class events are held in athletics, cross country and swimming.
Multi Class events are designed for students with a disability.
To compete in Multi Class events, students must have a current classification.
The classification categories included in Multi Class events are; deaf and hard of hearing, intellectual, physical, visual and transplant recipient.
Results and placings in multi class events are determined using specific scoring systems.
Athletics uses Baseline Performance.
Cross Country uses Multi Disability Scoring
And swimming use the Multi Class Point Score.
Each scoring system compares a competitor’s result to the relevant world record or standard to create a score or percentage.
The winner is not always the student with the fastest time or best results, as places and overall standing are determined by the scores or percentages achieved.
The competitor achieving the greatest score or percentage wins, the next largest receives second place and so forth.
Visit the Multi Class page of our website to access more information about Multi Class, detailed videos about each scoring system plus links to sport specific scoring calculators.
If you have any questions or need further assistance, please call our disability inclusion officers.
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Multi-class is the format used to create meaningful competition, for athletes and swimmers with a disability, from multiple classification impairment categories. Multi-class events are held in athletics, cross country and swimming, with some minor modifications to the rules and regulations, where necessary.
Multi-class events are designed for athletes and swimmers with a disability.
To compete in multi-class events, competitors must have a current, eligible classification of either a provisional, national, international or review status.
In multi-class events, competitors with a disability compete against one another, with each athlete or swimmer’s result being compared to the world record or a set standard for their specific disability. The performance closest to the relevant record/ standard, wins.
The winner of a multi-class event is not always the competitor who throws the furthest, crosses the line first or touches the wall before others, but the one who posts the time/distance closest to the World Record or set standard for their impairment classification category.
Multi-class events are held at all athletics, cross country and swimming championships, with each sport having a specific scoring system to determine results.
Baseline Performance Athletics video transcript (DOCX 23 KB)
In athletics, multi-class results are determined using Baseline Performance.
In this system, an athlete’s time or distance is compared to the world record (or similar) for their specific disability and event, to create a percentage.
Results and overall placings are determined by using the percentages achieved. The competitor with the greatest percentage wins.
The dropdown banners below contain a range of spreadsheets to be used to calculate results within the school sport representative pathway.
Click on the links to download the Excel files onto your device.
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Primary school calculations |
Click on the link to download the implement weights for field events.
Click on the links to download the Excel files onto your device.
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Secondary school calculations |
Click on the link to download the implement weights for field events.
For assistance in using the scoring sheets: FAQ page (coming soon)
Find more detailed information on Australian Athletics.
MDS cross country video transcript (DOCX 23 KB)
In cross country, multi-class results are determined using Baseline Performance.
In this system, an athlete’s time or distance is compared to the MDS time for their specific disability and event, to create a percentage.
The MDS times have been created using averaged results and records from; Paralympic and World Championships, plus U/16, U/18 and U/20 Australian events.
Results and overall placings are determined by using the percentages achieved. The competitor with the greatest percentage wins.
Please click the link to use The 2026 Cross Country Multi-class Calculation spreadsheet.
MCPS Swimming video transcript (DOCX 23 KB)
In Swimming, multi-class results are determined using the Multi-Class Point Score (MCPS).
In this system, an athlete’s time is compared to the world record (or similar) for their specific disability and event, to create a score.
Results and overall placings are determined by using the scores achieved. The competitor with the greatest score wins.
Find more information about MCPS and the MCPS calculator on Swimming Australia.
*Disclaimer: In line with the NSW Government’s full disclaimer regarding links to external sites, links are provided with the intention of increasing the information available to you and do not imply that the department endorses those websites or the people or companies who own them. The NSW Department of Education has no control over linked websites, and is not responsible for the views, opinions, standards or information expressed on them.