I just watched the NYT animation of the men’s 1500m freestyle and realized that, after turns, Bobby Fink largely gets out ahead of other swimmers because of how much speed he gets when he pushes off the wall, and then other swimmers start to catch up. It made me realize that if the competition were 1500m in a straight line, the results would be different.
Are there measures in place around how much time you actually have to “swim,” or is this just how swimming in a pool works?
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You might already realize this, but they’re swimming under the water after they do the flip turn, so their speed/distance before they surface isn’t just a function of the pushoff, but also of how good/powerful their dolphin kick is.
The reason that swimmers are required to surface after 15m isn’t because the pushoff is so impactful, it’s because swimming underwater with the dolphin kick is more efficient than swimming on top of the water, regardless of what stroke the event is focused on.
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