Purpose:
Paralympic athletes need physical, technical, and psychological training. The study aim was to monitor and compare multi-parameter variables during Paralympic swimmers’ training cycle before Rio 2016 Paralympic Games.

Methods:
Internal training load, motivation levels, mood states, stress, and recovery were measured at 3 testing times (T1,T2, T3) in 11 Paralympic swimmers. Friedman and Wilcoxon post-hoc tests served to verify differences (p 0.05).

Results:
No significant differences occurred in motivation and mood states; however, the athletes’ mood states followed the ‘iceberg mood profile’. In sources and symptoms of stress, a difference existed in the number of ‘worse than normal’ responses (p = 0.03) in T1>T3 (p = 0.05) and T2>T3 (p = 0.05). Considering the training load, there was a difference in total internal training load (p = 0.02), with T1 showing greater values than T3 (p = 0.02) and T2>T3 (p = 0.02). The questionnaire to measure the recovery-stress status presented significant differences in conflicts/pressure subscales (p = 0.01) in T1>T2 (p = 0.03) and T1>T3 (p < 0.01), and in fatigue (p < 0.01) in T1>T2 (p = 0.05) and T1>T3 (p = 0.01).

Conclusions:
Internal training load decreased from T1 to T3; lowest stress symptoms were observed in T3 with the lowest internal load, and scales of conflicts/pressure and fatigue were highest in T1. Monitoring multi-parameter data in the training cycle may explain the psychobiological aspects of Paralympic swimmers and provide important information for coaches and athletes to meet the specific demands of impaired athletes.