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. 2014 Oct 10:42:187-200.
doi: 10.2478/hukin-2014-0073. eCollection 2014 Sep 29.

The effect of course length on individual medley swimming performance in national and international athletes

Mathias Wolfrum  1 , Christoph Alexander Rüst  2 , Thomas Rosemann  2 , Romuald Lepers  3 , Beat Knechtle  4
Affiliations

The effect of course length on individual medley swimming performance in national and international athletes

Mathias Wolfrum et al. J Hum Kinet. .

Abstract

Effects of course length (25 m versus 50 m) and advances in performance of individual medley swimming were examined for men and women in Swiss national competitions and FINA World Championships during 2000-2011. Linear regression and analysis of variance (ANOVA) were used to analyse 200 m and 400 m race results for 26,081 swims on the Swiss high score list and 382 FINA finalists. Swiss and FINA swimmers of both sexes were, on average, 4.3±3.2% faster on short courses for both race distances. Sex-related differences in swim speed were significantly greater for FINA swimmers competing in short-course events than in long-course events (10.3±0.2% versus 9.7±0.3%, p<0.01), but did not differ for Swiss swimmers (p>0.05). Sex-related differences in swimming speed decreased with increasing race distance for both short- and long-course events for Swiss athletes, and for FINA athletes in long-course events. Performance improved significantly (p<0.05) during 2000-2011 for FINA men competing in either course length and FINA females competing in short-course events, but not for Swiss swimmers. Overall, the results showed that men and women individual medley swimmers, competing at both national and international levels, have faster average swimming speeds on short courses than on long courses, for both 200 m and 400 m distances. FINA athletes demonstrate an improving performance in the vast majority of individual medley events, while performance at national level seems to have reached a plateau during 2000-2011.

Keywords: pool length; sex-related difference; swim speed; temporal trends.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Swimming speed and sex related differences of the overall top ten FINA male and female individual medley swimmers between 2000 and 2011 over 200 m distance (Panel A) and 400 m distance (Panel B), respectively. The p-value is given in case of a significant difference between short course and long course swimming. “NS” indicates absence of a significant difference.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Swimming speed and sex related differences of the overall top ten Swiss male and female individual medley swimmers between 2000 and 2011 over 200 m distance (Panel A) and 400 m distance (Panel B), respectively. The p-value is given in case of a significant difference between short course and long course swimming. “NS” indicates absence of a significant difference.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Changes in swimming speed of male and female FINA World Champion finalist individual medley swimmers during each year from 2000 to 2012 in short course versus long course events over 200 m and 400 m; Mean ± SD.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Changes in swimming speed of male and female Swiss individual medley swimmers during each year from 2000 to 2011 in short course versus long course events over 200 m and 400 m; Mean ± SD
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