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      Performance Development of European Swimmers Across the Olympic Cycle

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          Abstract

          The aims of the study were to (1) quantify the performance development of race times and key performance indicators of European swimmers across the last Olympic cycle (from 2016 to 2021) and (2) provide reference values for long-course swimming pool events for both sexes from 50 m to 1,500 m including butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke, freestyle, and individual medley. Individual events from the 2016 and 2021 European swimming championships were included. Specifically, 246 men (age: 24.2 ± 3.4 years, FINA points: 890 ± 40) and 256 women races (age: 24.2 ± 4, FINA points: 879 ± 38) of the finalists were recorded and key performance indicators and split times analyzed. Performance differences in finalists of the 2016 and 2021 European championships were determined by an independent t-test and Cohen's d effect size. Reference values were retrieved from 2021 European championship finalists and are provided for all key performance indicators. Race times improved significantly ( P < 0.05) or showed moderate ( d = 0.5–1) to large effect sizes ( d > 1) in 14 (men) and 6 (women) out of 16 events. Improvements were primarily evident in 100 m and 200 m events for males, as well as BR and sprint events for female swimmers. While start times improved in 15 (men) and 14 (women) events, turn times remained inconclusive in both sexes. Generally, breakout distances increased. Clean swimming velocities were faster in 12 (men) and 5 (women) events. In particular, for alternating swimming strokes, i.e., backstroke and freestyle, effect sizes indicated improved swimming efficiency with an inverse relationship between reduced stroke rate and increased distance per stroke. Coaches and performance analysts may use the present reference values as comparative data for race analyses and to specifically prepare swimmers for the various race sections. Data on the performance development should be used to analyze swimmers' potential and set goals for the various events and the next Olympic cycle.

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          Progression and variability of competitive performance of Olympic swimmers.

          William A. Hopkins, Cassie Trewin, David Pyne (2004)
          Estimates of progression and variability of athletic performance in competitions are useful for researchers and practitioners interested in factors that affect performance. We used repeated-measures mixed modelling to analyse 676 official race times of 26 US and 25 Australian Olympic swimmers in the 12-month period leading up to the 2000 Olympic Games. Progression was expressed as percent changes in mean performance; variability was expressed as the coefficient of variation in performance of an individual swimmer between races. Within competitions, both nations showed similar improvements in mean time from heats through finals (overall 1.2%; 95% confidence limits 1.1 to 1.3%). Mean competition time also improved over 12 months by a similar amount in both nations (0.9%; 95% confidence limits 0.6 to 1.2%). The US swimmers showed a greater improvement between the finals (a difference of 0.5%; 95% confidence limits -0.2 to 1.1%), which paralleled changes in the medal haul of the two nations. The coefficient of variation in performance time for a swimmer between races was 0.60% (95% confidence limits 0.56 to 0.65%) within a competition and 0.80% (95% confidence limits 0.73 to 0.86%) between competitions. Our results show that: (a) to stay in contention for a medal, an Olympic swimmer should improve his or her performance by approximately 1% within a competition and by approximately 1% within the year leading up to the Olympics; (b) an additional enhancement of approximately 0.4% (one-half the between-competition variability) would substantially increase the swimmer's chances of a medal.
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            Sex Differences in World Record Performance: The Influence of Sport Discipline and Competition Duration.

            Øyvind Sandbakk, Guro Strøm Solli, Hans-Christer Holmberg (2017)
            In the present review, we summarize scientific knowledge concerning sex differences in world record performance and the influence of sport discipline and competition duration. In addition, we discuss how physiological factors relate to sex dimorphism. While cultural factors played a major role in the rapid improvement of performance of women relative to men up until the 1990's, sex differences between the world's best athletes in most events have remained relatively stable at approximately 8-12%. The exceptions are events in which upper-body power is a major contributor, where this difference is more than 15%, and ultra-endurance swimming, where the gap is now less than 5%. The physiological advantages in men include a larger body size with more skeletal muscle mass, a lower percentage of body fat, as well as greater maximal delivery of anaerobic and aerobic energy. The greater strength and anaerobic capacity in men normally disappears when normalized for fat-free body mass, whereas the higher hemoglobin concentrations leads to 5-10% greater maximal oxygen uptakes in men also with such normalization. The higher percentage of muscle mass in the upper-body of men results in a particularly large sex difference in power production during upper-body exercise. While the exercise efficiency of men and women is usually similar, women have a better capacity to metabolize fat and demonstrate better hydrodynamics and more even pacing, which may be advantageous in particular during long-lasting swimming competitions.
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              Strength and power predictors of swimming starts in international sprint swimmers.

              Gail N Owen, Thomas D. Cunningham, Joseph West … (2011)
              Start performance (as defined by time to 15 m) has been shown to be a key performance indicator during 50-m freestyle swimming; however, there is limited information with regard to the key strength and power variables that influence start performance during sprint swimming. In light of the above, this study aimed to examine the key strength and power predicators of start performance in 50-m freestyle swimming. Eleven male British international sprint swimmers (age 21.3 ± 1.7 years; mass 78.1 ± 11.2 kg; and height 1.8 ± 0.1 m) participated in this study. Within 1 week, swimmers performed the following tests: 3 repetition maximum (3RM) squat strength, countermovement jump (CMJ) on a portable force platform, and a measure of start time performance (time to 15 m under 50-m freestyle conditions). The start time was measured using a standard racing platform to which a portable force platform was mounted, and all starts were recorded using 2 cameras. This setup allowed for the quantification of time to 15 m, peak vertical force (PVF), and peak horizontal force (PHF). Data were analyzed using Pearson's product moment correlation with significance set at p 0.05). Furthermore, lower body strength was a key determinant of jump height (r = 0.69), power (r = 0.78), PVF (r = 0.62), and PHF (r = 0.71) (p < 0.05). This study provides evidence of the importance of lower body strength and power to start time in international 50-m sprint swimmers.
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                Author and article information

                Contributors
                Journal
                Journal ID (nlm-ta): Front Sports Act Living
                Journal ID (iso-abbrev): Front Sports Act Living
                Journal ID (publisher-id): Front. Sports Act. Living
                Title: Frontiers in Sports and Active Living
                Publisher: Frontiers Media S.A.
                ISSN (Electronic): 2624-9367
                Publication date (Electronic): 10 June 2022
                Publication date Collection: 2022
                Volume: 4
                Electronic Location Identifier: 894066
                Affiliations
                [1] 1Swiss Swimming Federation, Section for High-Performance Sports , Bern, Switzerland
                [2] 2Department for Elite Sport, Swiss Federal Institute of Sport Magglingen , Magglingen, Switzerland
                [3] 3British Swimming Federation, Sportpark, Loughborough University , Loughborough, United Kingdom
                [4] 4Department of Physical Performance, Norwegian School of Sport Sciences , Oslo, Norway
                Author notes

                Edited by: Flávio De Souza Castro, Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil

                Reviewed by: Santiago Veiga, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Spain; David Napoleon Simbana Es, Université de Rouen, France; Wellington Feitosa, State University of Ceará, Brazil

                This article was submitted to Elite Sports and Performance Enhancement, a section of the journal Frontiers in Sports and Active Living

                Article
                DOI: 10.3389/fspor.2022.894066
                PMC ID: 9231649
                PubMed ID: 35755613
                SO-VID: 041260b3-36f4-4db1-ad9f-c1e60416d9f0
                Copyright © Copyright © 2022 Born, Schönfelder, Logan, Olstad and Romann.
                License:

                This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

                History
                Date received : 11 March 2022
                Date accepted : 09 May 2022
                Page count
                Figures: 0, Tables: 5, Equations: 0, References: 43, Pages: 10, Words: 7653
                Categories
                Subject: Sports and Active Living
                Subject: Original Research

                Keywords: reference values,competition,development,athletes,sports
                Data availability:
                Keywords: reference values, competition, development, athletes, sports

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