This is not a question that comes up much with our sport. In fact, we're so used to continuous improvement that it almost seems disloyal to even ask it. Are we starting to see a plateau in swimming performances? Track and field has been plagued with stagnating performances for a long time. Despite the publicity… Continue reading Are Swimming Performances Starting to Stagnate?
Tag: us olympic trials
Swimming By the Numbers: Elite Men’s 400 Freestyle Strategies
This is a continuation of my series on how the elite swim various races. In my last instalment in this series I analyzed the women's 400 Free. There is no question that the 400 is a distance-oriented race, and so we can expect distance-oriented strategies. The purpose of this analysis is to determine which strategies… Continue reading Swimming By the Numbers: Elite Men’s 400 Freestyle Strategies
Swimming By the Numbers: Women’s Elite 400 Freestyle Strategies
This is a continuation of my series on how the elite swim various races. In previous posts, I've analyzed all of the 200 races. There is no question that the 400 is a distance-oriented race, and so we can expect distance-oriented strategies. The purpose of this analysis is to determine which strategies are used by… Continue reading Swimming By the Numbers: Women’s Elite 400 Freestyle Strategies
Swimming By the Numbers: How Elite Men Swim the 200 IM
It's the men's turn this time. Last week we looked at the 200 IM for women, and determined that it was slightly more oriented towards distance than sprinting, all seem to have strong butterfly splits and much wider split variations for the other 3 strokes, and the fastest tended to have the fastest freestyle splits.… Continue reading Swimming By the Numbers: How Elite Men Swim the 200 IM
Swimming By the Numbers: How Elite Women Swim the 200 IM
After a long delay, this is the next instalment in a series that looks at how the elite swim the 200 by looking at their race splits. This time we're analyzing the 200 Individual Medley for women.It's taken me a long time to figure out how to analyze the 200 IM. When I analyze a… Continue reading Swimming By the Numbers: How Elite Women Swim the 200 IM
200 Freestyle: Sprint or Distance?
If you're aware of my series on the analyzing how the elite swim the 200s, you'll know that I've collected a lot of data on elite swimmers. So it seemed natural for me to use this data to answer (at least to myself) an age-old question. Is the 200 Freestyle more sprint-oriented or more distance-oriented?… Continue reading 200 Freestyle: Sprint or Distance?
Swimming By the Numbers: How Elite Men Swim the 200 Breaststroke
This is the next installment in a series that looks at how the elite swim the 200 by looking at their race splits. This time we're analyzing the 200 breaststroke for men. The first set of analyses involved the long axis strokes for men and women (here, here and here). We found clear indications of… Continue reading Swimming By the Numbers: How Elite Men Swim the 200 Breaststroke
Swimming By the Numbers: How Elite Women Swim the 200 Breaststroke
This is the next instalment in a series that looks at how the elite swim the 200 by looking at their race splits. This time we're analyzing the 200 breaststroke for women. The first set of analyses involved the long axis strokes for men and women (here, here and here). We found clear indications of… Continue reading Swimming By the Numbers: How Elite Women Swim the 200 Breaststroke
Swimming By the Numbers: How Elite Men Swim the 200 Butterfly
This time up: 200 Butterfly for Men. The first set of analyses involved the long axis strokes for men and women (here, here and here). We found clear indications of specific race profiles (Sprinter, Distance and Hybrid - see below) that made sense given the efficient nature of the strokes. The women's freestyle and backstroke… Continue reading Swimming By the Numbers: How Elite Men Swim the 200 Butterfly
Swimming By the Numbers: How Elite Women Swim the 200 Butterfly
This is the next instalment in a series that looks at how the elite swim the 200 by looking at their race splits. This time we're analyzing the 200 butterfly for women. In the 200 freestyle and backstroke analyses (here, here and here) we found a number of surprises, or at least things that surprised… Continue reading Swimming By the Numbers: How Elite Women Swim the 200 Butterfly