Contributions of each of the four swimming strokes to elite 200-400 individual medley swimming performance in short and long course competitions

Abstract

Objectives: The relative contribution of each of the four strokes to performance, and whether these contributions differ substantially between short course and long course competitions is unclear. To clarify these issues the aim of this study was to assess the strokes that have more influence on the performance in the 200 and 400 m IM swimming performances of elite male and female swimmers, participating in major events: Olympic Games (OG) and World Championship (WC) in short-course and long-course from 2012 to 2021.

Methods: Data from 1,095 swimmers (501 women and 594 men) who competed in 200 and 400-m IM were obtained with a minimum level of 800 FINA points. Linear regression modelling and classification trees were employed to quantify differences between strokes and short/long course swimming.

Results: Regression analysis indicated that breaststroke (β = - 0.191; p < 0.000) and backstroke (β = - 0.185; p < 0.000) had a bigger effect on IM performance, with butterfly (β = - 0.101; p < 0.000) having a lesser impact. The classification trees showed threshold performance standards in terms of 50-m times in form-stroke events must be fulfilled to attain medal-winning performances.

Conclusions: These form-stroke standards represent important milestones for designing medal-oriented training strategies for both 200 IM and 400 m IM. Achieving a medallist position in 200 and 400 m IM requires obtaining specified lap times in butterfly, breaststroke and backstroke for males and females in long-course competitions, and breaststroke and backstroke for short-course competitions. The OG presents more exigent demands of lap times in butterfly, crawl and backstroke for IM swimmers.

Keywords: Competitions; Data analysis; Mentoring; Performance; Swimming; Tactics.

Figure 1. Decision trees for identifying the relative contribution of breaststroke, backstroke, and front crawl to medal-winning, finalizing, or other (rest) performances in short (upper panel) and long course (lower panel) international swimming.

*back = backstroke, fly = butterfly, breast = breaststroke ** The leaf nodes (at the bottom) correspond to the classification predicted by the tree. From the initial or root node (at the top), following each of the conditions that define the different branches, we reach each of the leaf nodes, which indicates what must be fulfilled to achieve each of the leaf nodes (finalist, medallist or rest). The percentage figure for each node corresponds to the part of the sample contained within. The three figures above this percentage correspond to the distribution of the node’s sample among the different categories (finalist, medallist and rest, respectively).

Figure 2. Decision trees for identifying the relative contribution of breaststroke, backstroke and front crawl to medal winning, finalise or other (rest) for the Olympic Games and World Championships.

*back = backstroke, fly = butterfly, breast = breaststroke.