Swim Smooth Analysis: 2013 Barcelona World Championships
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We hope you managed to see some of the FINA World Swimming Championships from Barcelona last week, it was a fantastic event packed with some brilliant performances, particularly in the distance freestyle races. In this post we've picked out some interesting video stills highlighting the stroke technique and strategic elements of the men's and women's 800m and 1500m races, won by Sun Yang of China and Katie Ledecky from the US.
With very similar strokes underwater, Ryan Cochrane (right) leads Sun Yang during the 1500m final
Both Yang and Ledecky are what we call the
, having long smooth freestyle strokes and a powerful 6 beat kick when in full-flight. Notably both swimmers drop down to an intermittent flutter kick over long races, saving their full kick for the last 1-200m of a distance race. This ability to sprint is a trademark of the Smooth type, who have a natural turn of pace over short distances and so tend to also dominate the sprint events in the pool. Notable 'sprint-Smooths' being Alexander Popov, Ian Thorpe and Michael Phelps.
However at Swim Smooth we recognise there is also another 'ideal' way to swim freestyle for distance swimming, the less celebrated
. Interestingly the main competitors to Yang and Ledecky in these races were Ryan Cochrane and Lotte Friis, both of whom use a shorter punchier style of stroke to move through the water. Both fit into the Swinger stroke bracket, particularly Friis who favours the classic swinging straighter arm over the water from which the type takes its name:
400m into the 800m final: Friis (leading) uses the classic straight-arm swinging recovery of the Swinger, a style used widely by elite open water swimmers and triathletes. Ledecky (second place) has the classical high-elbow of the Smooth stroke style.
Despite being taller (1.84m/6'0” vs 1.78m/5'10”), Friis takes 44 strokes per length and Ledecky 38. As Friis has a shorter stroke, to move at the same speed she turns her arms over quicker at 95 strokes per minute (SPM) versus 81 SPM for Ledecky. That's a large difference and just goes to show how there's no right distance per stroke that everyone should swim at – nor is a long stroke necessarily better than a short stroke. It's about finding the stroke that works for you as an individual, if Friis tried to swim with Ledecky's stroke style or vice versa it simply would not work for them and they'd be slower as a result.
It's not just stroke rate, the personalities of Swingers and Smooths tend to be quite different. Smooths tend to be quite suave in their dress sense while Swingers are a bit more 'out there' and prefer bright bathers; in the case of Lotte Friis bright nails too!
If you have a
yourself, try setting it to those stroke rates in turn (Ledecky: 81SPM / Friis: 95SPM) in mode 3, see if you can stay with the beep for 25m. 95 SPM is obviously very fast but 81 SPM is quick too, despite Ledecky looking long and smooth in the pool. The secret to Ledecky's speed is that her stroke is actually long
and fast.
Strategically the 800m and 1500m races were interesting as Yang and Ledecky let Cochrane and Friis lead the whole way pacing themselves off them before using their sprint finish to overtake them over the last 100-150m. It's unlikely they would have gained any drafting effect from the next lane over but psychologically following someone is much easier than leading:
Sun Yang (far side) paces himself off Ryan Cochrane midway through the 1500m, keeping an eye on him on every breath before unleashing his finish in the last 100m. Note Cochrane's straight arm recovery style.
Friis (leading) stays on the far side of her lane away from Ledecky, just in case she's managing to pick up a tow from her wake.
If you are fortunate enough to be a Smooth swim type yourself there is an important strategy lesson here, particularly if you are considering open water swimming or triathlon. You will probably feel a strong temptation to get out front and lead the whole race but if do that you will likely tow around a whole bunch of slower swimmers drafting behind you (see our classic blog post:
Behind Every Smooth Is A Gaggle Of Bloodsucking Swingers
).
Instead of trying to lead, learn to draft effectively and get comfortable sitting in the lead group yourself behind other swimmers. In a triathlon where there's no advantage in sprinting at the end of the swim but in an open water race you can unleash your finish with 200m to go and leave everyone in your wake.
What else can we learn from these great swimmers? We'd highlight three important things:
1. Zero Glide From Katie Ledecky
If you study footage of Ledecky's stroke, you can see how her stroke starts immediately as the previous stroke finishes at the rear. Katie may appear to glide down the pool with her super-smooth stroke but this is in fact an illusion, her propulsion is smooth and continuous and there's zero pause-and-glide in her stroke:
Consecutive video frames 0.04 seconds apart: Ledecky finishes one stroke (A) and immediately commences the next (B). You can see the overlap in Friis' stroke in the background, starting the front stroke before the rear finishes, giving her that faster revving style.
The notion that great swimmers glide down the pool is the biggest misconception in swim coaching – something we're dedicated to dispelling at Swim Smooth as it's an idea that harms so many swimmer's stroke techniques and limits their achievements.
If you've tried to add a pause-and-glide into your stroke, check out
this data showing how incredibly inefficient it is
and our
similar analysis of Sun Yang's stroke from 2011
.
2. Sun Yang's Great Catch And Pull Through Technique
A feature of Sun's stroke is his powerful catch and pull, pushing himself forwards strongly on every stroke:
At its simplest level, propulsion in swimming is about engaging with the water and pressing it backwards so that you are propelled forwards, which we can clearly see Sun doing above. You're not looking to rotate your arms round in a big circle like a waterwheel, you're entering the water, extending forwards and pressing water backwards until you reach the back of the stroke.
3. Fantastic Pacing Skills
Here's Sun Yang's splits per 50m during the 1500m race. Notice how perfectly paced the swim was up until the sprint finish over the last 100m with each 50m split only varying by a few tenths of a second:
distance
lap time (seconds)
50
27.13 (from dive)
100
29.37
150
29.82
200
30.17
250
29.53
300
29.46
350
29.26
400
29.37
450
29.39
500
29.68
550
29.57
600
29.57
650
29.48
700
29.65
750
29.57
800
29.81
850
29.29
900
29.87
950
29.77
1000
29.95
1050
29.44
1100
29.73
1150
29.64
1200
29.79
1250
29.67
1300
29.87
1350
29.69
1400
29.13
1450
27.37
1500
27.11
To pace things that accurately takes tremendous skill and is something that nearly all non-elite swimmers lack. It's so easy to start too fast in your swims and then blow-up, ending up slower overall.
One way to help you develop your pacing skills is to swim with a
set to beep at your target speed - so you reach the end of the lap on every beep (a bit like a constant pace beep test). It's so easy to get way ahead of the beeper in the early stages of your swim only for it to catch and pass you. Nearly all world records on the track or in the pool have been set with even pacing, or a slight negative split where the second half is quicker than the first. Swimming with good pacing in training sets will give you bigger fitness improvements too.
Katie Ledecky's Hand Entry
We've talked about Sun Yang before on the blog and what a phenomenal swimmer he is but Katie Ledecky is equally impressive, having shocked the world to win the 800m gold at the London Olympics aged just 15 and now winning four golds at the world championships (400m/800m/1500m/4x200m) just a year later. She's the new superstar of distance swimming and we look forward to more stunning performances from her over the coming years.
Is she perfect? Nearly but not quite, she does have a distinct thumb first entry with the palm turning outwards on her right hand which is going to place a twisting load on her shoulder:
Katie Ledecky's left and right hand entries
Given that she already has a great catch and pull-through, rectifying that to a more neutral entry (as she does on her left side) is unlikely to bring a speed improvement but it will help her avoid shoulder injury over the coming years. If you
suffer from any shoulder pain when you swim
, a thumb first entry is the first thing to check for in your stroke.
The Open Water Races
Both the mens and women's 10km marathon swims also played out as classic battles between Swingers and Smooths but out in the open water the tables were turned and the Swingers came out on top. In the mens race, Spyridon Gianniotis took the win to claim his second world title with Thomas Lurz in second, both 'swinging' at 92-95 SPM for the whole race. The Olympic Champion Oussama Mellouli came in third with his longer smoother stroke, racing at 68-70SPM.
The start of the men's 10K swim in Barcelona. It's obvious what an advantage a straighter arm recovery is to clear the disturbed water and other swimmers.
In the women's race, the two Brazilian swimmers Poliona Okimoto Cintra and Ana Marcela Cunha took the gold and silver, again stroking fast in the 90-95SPM range. For more detail on the races, check out Steve Munatones' excellent race reports
and
where he discusses how despite the water conditions being relatively smooth, in a tightly packed group of swimmers they became very turbulent indeed.
The open water results highlight the fact that swimmers with a faster stroke rate tend to naturally excel in open water. That faster punchy rhythm helps drive them through the wake, chop and disturbed water quickly and efficiently. The key thing to appreciate is that this is not a less efficient way to swim and they are not fighting the water, it's just like spinning a smaller gear on the bike taking more strokes but each taking less effort.
Summary
Once again at a major swimming championships we see a range of stroke styles being used by different athletes to suit their height, build, natural style and the race in which they are competing. This just goes to show that there's not one ideal stroke style that all great swimmers use.
As you develop your own swimming try not to fall into the trap of thinking you must swim in a certain style because it could well be the wrong style for you. Instead, work on each area of your stroke technique such as improving your breathing technique, your body position or your catch and pull through and see how the stroke clicks together as a result.
What to work on as a priority? Take a look at our Swim Types microsite here:
. As well as the elite level Smooth and Swinger, there are four other types which range from beginner through intermediate to advanced level. Discover your type and we'll show you exactly how to improve, step by step.
Swim Smooth!
PS. If you enjoy your facts and figures, here's our summary of the women's 800m and men's 1500m swimmers in numbers:
Women's 800m Winner: Katie Ledecky (USA)
Age 16
Height 1.78m (5'10")
38 Strokes Per Length / 81 Strokes Per Minute
Gap between strokes* Left: 0.00 sec, Right: 0.00 sec
Finishing time (new world record) : 8:13.86 (61.7s/100m)
Swim Type: Smooth
Women's 800m Second Place: Lotte Friis (Denmark)
Age 25
Height 1.84m (6'0”)
44 Strokes Per Length / 95 Strokes Per Minute
Gap between strokes* Left: -0.12 sec, Right: -0.12 sec
Finishing time : 8:16.32 (62.0s/100m)
Swim Type: Swinger
Men's 1500m Winner: Sun Yang (China)
Age 21
Height 1.98m (6'6")
28 Strokes Per Length / 60 Strokes Per Minute
Gap between strokes* Left: 0.16, Right: 0.22
Sprint finish gap between strokes*: Left: 0.00, Right: -0.12 (85SPM)
Finishing time : 14:41.15 (58.7s/100m)
Swim Type: Smooth
Men's 1500 Second Place: Ryan Cochrane (Canada)
Age 24
Height 1.93m (6'4")
36 Strokes Per Length / 82 Strokes Per Minute
Gap between strokes* Left: 0.00, Right: 0.00
Sprint finish gap between strokes*: Left: -0.12, Right: -0.08 (99 SPM)
Finishing time : 14:42.48 (58.8s/100m)
Swim Type: Swinger
*The time gap between the stroke finishing at the rear and the next starting at the front from video analysis averaged over several strokes. Negative denotes stroke overlap.