--- title: "Swimming up an age group in Portugal: medical exam and sign-off" description: "Swimming up an age group in Portugal needs no extra medical; two age groups need a special exam and IPDJ approval. Your coach chooses the meet entry, and you book any medical visit." url: "https://swimtrack.ai/blog/sobreclassificacao-swimming-up/" lang: "en" author: "SwimTrack" publisher: "SwimTrack" license: "Free to read and quote with attribution to SwimTrack. Not for resale. https://swimtrack.ai/terms/" published: 2026-09-21 pillar: "parent-role" audience: "parent" --- # Swimming up an age group in Portugal: medical exam and sign-off Swimming up an age group in Portugal needs no extra medical; two age groups need a special exam and IPDJ approval. Your coach chooses the meet entry, and you book any medical visit. > **Idea in Brief** > - **One escalão up needs no extra exam.** The ordinary annual sports medical covers it. > - **Two escalões up changes the process.** A special state exam applies in rare cases. > - **Swimming rarely uses it.** The 2024 and 2025 published lists contain one swimmer. At the pool, a coach says your swimmer may race up an escalão. The words sound like a new medical hurdle. For the 2026/27 season, the FPN sets each escalão by birth year, as [this guide explains](https://swimtrack.ai/blog/why-is-my-kid-in-infantis-a). The state draws the medical line at one step. The IPDJ says the age group just above uses the ordinary general sports medical. That is the [annual exam](https://swimtrack.ai/blog/the-sports-medical-exam) every federated swimmer already needs. If your swimmer is proposed for two escalões above their real age, the separate exame de sobreclassificação applies. The IPDJ calls any move beyond the next age group a special case. It is a set of appointments, mostly heart checks and growth checks. The IPDJ publishes the full protocol: blood and urine tests, X-rays, and a heart ultrasound (echocardiogram). The exam can take place only at an IPDJ sports-medicine centre in Lisbon or Porto. A specialist in sports medicine may also do it. The Ordem dos Médicos’ specialty college must recognise that doctor. Outside those centres, the doctor sends the file for state sign-off (homologação). This must happen within five working days. The file includes the official form and your written approval for both the exam and the two-escalão move. Within ten working days, the director may order a repeat at an IPDJ centre if there is good reason for doubt. The final decision appears on the IPDJ website. The state centres’ table lists this exam at €70. It prices the heart ultrasound separately when billed alone. A private specialist sets their own fee, so confirm the current total with the club or centre. The IPDJ’s published decisions show how rare this is in swimming. In 2025, its two lists carried 1,392 authorisations. None was for natação. Every aquatic entry was polo aquático. In 2024, the two lists carried 1,181 authorisations. Exactly one was for natação. These lists record approvals. They don’t show every question a club may have raised. Still, the published record is clear: one swimmer across those two years. Swimming’s own rules usually work through escalão and TAC. For national meets, entry uses the TAC set for your swimmer’s own escalão. The 2026/27 national rules publish one route into an older field. At the Open de Portugal in Coimbra, from 8 to 11 April 2027, juvenis may enter up to five individual events. They need the first-year juniores TAC. They then race in the Absoluta and Open classes. Your coach decides whether those times and events fit. A younger swimmer may also appear in an older field as [extra-competição](https://swimtrack.ai/blog/extra-competicao), with an official time but no placing. --- ### Share it with your swimmer Give them only the detail they need: - **Under 12 (you're driving).** *“The coach is checking which races fit you. I’ll handle any forms.”* This keeps the admin with you. - **12–15 (sharing the wheel).** *“Swimming up usually means meeting a time. Let’s ask which meet they mean.”* This keeps the question concrete. - **16+ (they're driving).** *“Ask your coach which TAC and class apply. I’ll help with any medical booking.”* This gives them the coach conversation. ### Stay aligned with your coach The coach chooses meets and events from your swimmer’s times. You book any medical visit and keep the forms. Ask, *“Do you mean a TAC entry for this meet, or a two-escalão case that needs the state exam?”* ### Keep exploring - [The sports medical exam](https://swimtrack.ai/blog/the-sports-medical-exam) — The guide covers the annual form, where to book, and who confirms FPNSystem validation. - [Why is my kid in Infantis A?](https://swimtrack.ai/blog/why-is-my-kid-in-infantis-a) — See how birth year fixes the season's category, meet rules, and qualifying table. - [Extra-competição](https://swimtrack.ai/blog/extra-competicao) — Learn why an official time may carry no placing under the meet regulamento. - [FPN qualifying times](https://swimtrack.ai/time-standards/portugal-fpn-tac/) — Check TAC by escalão, event, pool, and gender, with their use rules. ## Related reading - [Sports medical exam Portugal: where to book and why clubs ask](https://swimtrack.ai/blog/the-sports-medical-exam/) - [Swimming age categories Portugal: how birth years work](https://swimtrack.ai/blog/why-is-my-kid-in-infantis-a/) - [Extra competicao swimming meaning: official time, no placing](https://swimtrack.ai/blog/extra-competicao/) --- SwimTrack — https://swimtrack.ai HTML version of this page: https://swimtrack.ai/blog/sobreclassificacao-swimming-up/