澳大利亚残奥自行车选手科里·博丁顿因残障等级调整而无法参加2026年格拉斯哥英联邦运动会。[1]博丁顿在短短一年内经历两次重新分级，先从C4级改为C3级，随后又改回C4级，这一变化导致他被排除在本次运动会设置的所有男子残障自行车项目之外。[1]
博丁顿是2025年澳大利亚年度自行车运动员，曾在巴黎作为C4级运动员赢得公里计时赛冠军。[1]2025年被重新分级至C3级后，他在里约世界锦标赛上赢得4枚金牌。[1]但在从新西兰返回后，他再次被重新分级回C4级。[1]格拉斯哥英联邦运动会仅设4项男子残障自行车项目，都不包括C4级运动员，这意味着博丁顿无论哪个等级都难以找到参赛机会。[1]
残障运动员分级制度旨在确保不同障碍类型的运动员在相对公平的竞技环境中比赛，但这一过程对运动员造成了情感压力。[1]类似的情况也发生在游泳运动员亚历克莎·莱里身上，她因重新分级（从S9改为S10）同样无法参加本次运动会。[1]
Australian Paralympic cyclist Korey Boddington has been excluded from competing at the 2026 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow due to a series of reclassifications within a single year.[1] Boddington, named Australia's 2025 Cyclist of the Year,[1] won the kilometre time trial title as a C4-classified athlete at the Paris Games[1] but was subsequently reclassified to C3, during which he claimed four gold medals at the Rio World Championships.[1] After returning from New Zealand, he was reclassified back to C4.[1]
The classification changes have proven decisive: Glasgow's Commonwealth Games programme includes only four men's wheelchair and handcycle events, none of which accommodate C4 athletes.[1] This situation highlights the complexity of Paralympic sport classification, a system designed to create equitable competition between athletes with different disability types but one that can create significant uncertainty for competitors.[1] Boddington is not alone in facing this challenge; swimmer Alexa Leary has also been rendered ineligible after being reclassified from S9 to S10.[1] Athletes' classification statuses are managed through various designations including confirmed, review at the next available opportunity, review with a fixed review date, or expired.[1]