Swimming Races Article

Freestyle Swimming Competition Primer

Freestyle is an official swimming competition, according to the International Swimming Federation, known as FINA. However, freestyle is not technically a “style”, because there are not that many rules about the way it has to be done. The front crawl is a popular stroke for many Freestyle swimmers, because it is usually the fastest style.

Freestyle swimming races can employ any of quite a few unregulated strokes, including the dog paddle, front crawl, and sidestroke. Individual competitions may also employ an officially regulated stroke, such as the butterfly, backstroke or breaststroke. For the freestyle portion of a medley competition, the aforementioned regulated strokes are restricted. The front crawl is a popular choice among competitive swimmers during freestyle races, because it provides the greatest amount of speed of all the strokes. During the Olympics, the front crawl is swum nearly exclusively during the freestyle portion of the competition.

Freestyle essentially means “any style”, but only for individual distances. When it comes to medley competitions, Freestyle actually means “any style that isn’t breaststroke, backstroke or butterfly”. In a freestyle competition, the wall must be touched on every turn, as well as upon completion of the race. At least one part of the swimmer’s body must be above the water at all times, except for during the first 15 m at the start of the race and every turn, since the swimmer usually submerges him or herself completely underwater.

The eight most common freestyle swimming competitions are the 50 meter Freestyle, 100 meter Freestyle, 200 meter Freestyle, 400 meter Freestyle, 800 meter Freestyle, 1500 meter Freestyle, 4x100 meter Freestyle Relay and the 4x200 meter Freestyle Relay. There are also 25 meter Freestyle events that are typically swum by younger swimmers, especially for slower swimmers, or swimmers who have difficulty with long distances. There are also four common Freestyle Medley competitions, 100 meter Individual, 200 meter Individual, 400 meter Individual and 4x100 meter Medley Relay.

Although the 800 meter and 1500 meter distance races are available to both men and women in many meets throughout the United States, when it comes to the Olympic Games and other meets hosted by FINA, only men are allowed to swim in the 1500 meter, and only women are allowed to swim in the 800 meter distance. This does not mean that FINA does not keep records for the other gender races, as many meets still do allow both of the distances for both genders.

Two of the top record holders in long course swim pool competitions for men are Ian Thorpe and Grant Hackett, who both swim for Australia. Ian Thorpe holds the world record for the 200 meter and 400 meter freestyle meets, as well as a record for the 4x200 meter relay along with Michael Klim, William Kirby and Grant Hackett. Grant Hackett, in addition to holding a record for the 4x200 along with Ian Thorpe, also holds a record for the 800 meter and 1500 meter competitions. Janet Evans from the United States, holds the world records for women’s freestyle competition in both the 800 meter and 1500 meter competitions.