The aims of this study were to 1) compare active drag (Da) calculation between a single land-based measurement of frontal surface area (FSA) and in-water FSA measures obtained at key events of the arm pull (1, right upper-limb catch; 2, right upper-limb insweep; 3, right upper-limb exit and left upper-limb catch; 4, left upper-limb insweep; and 5, left upper-limb exit and right upper-limb catch) at front crawl swimming, and 2) compare mechanical power variables computed based on these two approaches.