Starting techniques of elite swimmers

The purposes of this study were: (1) to propose definitions for measurements of starting technique based on practical relevance and experimental convenience; (2) to determine kinematic measures of the starting technique used by elite swimmers in each of the four competitive strokes during competition; (3) to compare the starting technique measures of each stroke between males and females; (4) to compare the starting technique measures of each stroke for different race distances. Motion picture films of the starting techniques employed by finalists in eight 100 m, ten 200 m, and two 400 m individual swimming events contested in the 1982 British Commonwealth Games (Brisbane) were analysed to determine six measures of elapsed time and three measures of horizontal distance from the end of the pool. For all distance measures in each event, the male swimmers had greater mean values than the female swimmers. Results obtained using height as a covariate suggested that height did account for a large part of the observed differences for the block‐distance measure but did not account for enough of the differences in distance to change the statistically significant results for the other distance measures. Comparison of the measures between race distances, revealed statistically significant differences for flight time and contact‐distance of the hand in the freestyle events. In each case, the mean value in the 100 m event was greater than in the 200 m event. It is suggested that 200 m swimmers may improve their race performance by adopting a starting technique which is similar to that used by 100 m swimmers.