Abstract
Freestyle swimming performance over 50 m, 100 m, 200 m, 400 m, 800 m and 1,500 m was compared on short (25 m) and long (50 m) course for 92,196 national swimmers (i.e. annual high score list Switzerland) and 1,104 international swimmers (i.e. finalists FINA World Championships) from 2000 to 2012. National and international swimmers of both sexes were on average 2.0 ± 0.6% faster on short than on long course. Sex-related differences in swimming speed were greater on short than on long course for international and national swimmers from 50 m to 800 m. Freestyle swimming performance improved across years for international swimmers in both short- and long-course whereas only male national swimmers were able to improve on short and long course events except for short course events on 800 m and 1,500 m. Performance in national women competing in short and long course events showed only improvements on 50 m, 100 m and 1,500 m across years. The sex-related differences in freestyle swimming performance showed no change for international swimmers. For national swimmers, the sex-related differences in freestyle swimming performance increased over time in long course from 50 m to 800 m, but decreased for 1,500 m. In conclusion, elite female and male freestyle swimmers at national and international level were about 2% faster on 25 m compared to 50 m course. During the 2000–2012 period, international as well as national swimmers (i.e. for national level predominantly men) improved freestyle swimming performance in both long and short course. More vigorous and optimized training programs focused on muscular force production in combination with efficient swimming skills might close the performance gap between elite swimmers at national level and FINA finalists. Further research especially including effects of anthropometric, biomechanical, and physiological factors is required to fully understand the effects of course length on freestyle swimming performance, and to determine whether course length has similar effects on other swim styles.
Highlights
National and international swimming competitions are held on either short (25 m) or long (50 m) course (2012a)
Men were in general faster than women at international and national competition level (Figures 1, 2, 3 and 4). These findings were highlighted by a two-way analysis of variance, which demonstrated a positive main effect of male sex and short course event on swim speed (Table 2)
Sex and course length had positive interactive effects on swimming speed in national swimmers competing in 50 m, 200 m, 800 m, and 1,500 m, and on swimming speed in international swimmers competing in 50 m, 400 m, and 800 m; with a positive interactive-effect of male sex and short course on swimming speed
Summary
National and international swimming competitions are held on either short (25 m) or long (50 m) course (2012a). Swimming speeds are generally faster for short-course events (FINA, 2012b), due to the greater number of turns made for any given swimming distance (Keskinen et al 1996; Telford et al 1988; Wakayosh et al 1999). Male freestyle swimmers gain more advantage from short-course events than their female counterparts, because men are able to reach higher speeds during turns (Wirtz et al 1992). The sex-related differences in freestyle swimming performance have only been compared for short and long courses in 50 m events; most of the previous studies investigating sex-related differences in swimming speed only used results of longcourse events. Few studies have investigated recent temporal trends in freestyle swimming (Johnson et al 2009; Seiler et al 2007; Telford et al 1988) and no previous study analysed temporal trends in freestyle swimming for all official race distances on both short and long courses
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