Swimming turn performance: the distinguishing factor in 1500 m world championship freestyle races?

BMC Research Notes

Jan Kreník¹  Dennis-Peter Born²  Marek Polach³  Dan Thiel⁴ 

[1] Department for Competitive Swimming, Czech Swimming Federation;Department for Elite Sport, Swiss Federal Institute of Sport Magglingen;Faculty of Physical Culture, Department of Social Sciences in Kinanthropology, Palacký University Olomouc;Faculty of Physical Education and Sport, Department of Physiology and Biochemistry, Charles University Prague;

关键词: Elite athletes;    Front crawl;    Performance analysis;    Start;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s13104-021-05665-x

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

Abstract Objective Turn sections represent the second largest part of total race time in 1500 m freestyle races and may substantially affect race results. Therefore, the aim of the study was to investigate individual race strategies and compare the effect of start, swim, and turn performances between short-course and long-course races. Video footages were collected from all 16 male finalists at the 2018 short and 2019 long-course World swimming championships (age 23.06 ± 2.3 years, FINA points 941 ± 42) for subsequently analysis of start, turn, and swim performance. Results The larger number of turns in short-course races resulted in significantly faster race times (p = 0.004), but slower mean turn times compared to long-course races (p < 0.001). Total race velocity closely correlated with swim and turn but not start section velocity in short- (r ≥ 0.80, p ≤ 0.017) and long-course races (r ≥ 0.83, p ≤ 0.011). Analysis of individual race strategies showed that turn performance affected race results in 6 (75%) and 3 (37.5%) of the 8 world-best 1500 m swimmers in short-course and long-course races, respectively. Medal standing was improved for 1st, 3rd, and 4th ranked short- as well as 1st and 2nd ranked long-course finalist. Coaches, athletes, and performance analysts may carefully consider the importance of turn performance additionally to free-swimming skills.

【 授权许可】

Unknown