Great Starts & Best Techniques?

[crawler]

Amongst all of the olympic swimming I'm interested to know what particular stroke or technique of an individual swimmer has really impressed you.

Ever since the heats of the 4x100 FS Relay I have just been incredulous at the starts Roland Schoeman of SA has been making -every time he has taken metres out of every other top swimmer throughout - wonderful explosive power and reaction.

I'm not just thinking of current medallists but have there been emerging swimmers who have caught your eye with perfect technique - ones for the future?

[glen_75]

Amongst all of the olympic swimming I'm interested to know what particular stroke or technique of an individual swimmer has really impressed you.

Ever since the heats of the 4x100 FS Relay I have just been incredulous at the starts Roland Schoeman of SA has been making -every time he has taken metres out of every other top swimmer throughout - wonderful explosive power and reaction.

I'm not just thinking of current medallists but have there been emerging swimmers who have caught your eye with perfect technique - ones for the future?
Natalie Coughlin is the best technician with a whip like dolphin to propel her at the start and off walls. It makes a good swimmer into a great one.

Alex Popov, though well past his best is still the most classic, efficient, loping, freestyle stroke.

[Katie]

Laure Manadou's freestyle is a really lovely stroke, it looks effortless!

The Austrian (I think) guy in the 200 back final had absolutely amazing underwater (although I could have sworn he came up after 15m at one point), he was catching up Peirsol on every turn.

[Tara]

Steve Parrys turns impressed me, on each one he was really explosive off the wall and almost rested (no kick) til he reached 5m where he did 3 or 4 really powerful kicks which took him really well into the first stroke.

Jodie Henrys back end speed, mainly the last 25m really was fantastic in all her 100m swims, she almost looked like she hadnt swam the first 75m! Also her high elbow position under the water, its probably the highest elbow I have seen on a female swimmer!

Matt Welsh's backstroke is so technically strong, he really looks like he doesnt slip the water at all, and this makes his stroke so powerful.

Grant Hacketts stroke always impresses me-he really looks like he's pulling his body right past his hand. He has the classic high elbow after the catch.

And of course Popov! :king:

They arent really up and coming swimmers I know, but they are the ones who I would pick out as being good to watch from a technical point of view!

[lane4]

Matt Welsh's backstroke is so technically strong, he really looks like he doesnt slip the water at all, and this makes his stroke so powerful.


But his miserable lazy relay lead off split this morning has cost Australia a place in the final. Thorpe can go home early now.

[Tara]

I was talking about technique not times Mr 4 :p ! And if we were talking about times we wouldn't have mentioned :king: Popov!

[Natasha]

I think the USA are great with thechniques - they all seem to have great starts and turns!

[Meiri]

Another guy who always impresses me with his starts and turns is Ian Crocker.. he just explodes off the block and the wall!
And Inge has pretty good starts also.. i think most sprinters have good starts, the start matters so much in a sprint race, that there's no way they would be good without a good one.

[lane4]

i think most sprinters have good starts, the start matters so much in a sprint race, that there's no way they would be good without a good one.
Jodie Henry anyone!?

[lane4]

I was talking about technique not times Mr 4 :p ! !
Indeed you were but his technique counted for nothing when it mattered at this meet. Rather he have slightly less good technique and a bit more fitness me thinks! ;) :p

[Meiri]

Jodie Henry anyone!?

Of course there are some sprinters that don't have good starts.. Henry and VDH come to mind, but they're just so fast... :king:
And they are better at the 100 than the 50, where the start isn't as important.

[Gareth Eckley]

It seems that you won't learn them in the UK !

Saw Katy Sexton swim. What is going on, she had the worst starts, turns and underwater skills of all the swimmers.

The british swimmers seem to have been let down by their coaches, they all have weaker turns and starts than the USA.

Do we bother to work on this crucial aspect of swimming in Britain.

This has been a shocking disapointment of an Olympics for British swimming. Some people have screwed up badly !

What is important, SKILL, TECHNIQUE, FLEXIBILITY. Hard work without max work in those areas is an exercise in FUTILITY. :cry:

[selkie]

Kind of surprising to hear British swimmers described as having bad starts and turns since there's so much short course swimming there. Here, it was alway drummed into our heads that we were supposed to learn good turns because most swimmers do probably 90% short course, and turns are so crucial in those conditions.

[glen_75]

Laure Manadou's freestyle is a really lovely stroke, it looks effortless!

Franziska v. Almsick has always looked effortless. Same thing with Klochkova's free. Of course if you look at their pull underwater it tires you just watching it.


The Austrian (I think) guy in the 200 back final had absolutely amazing underwater (although I could have sworn he came up after 15m at one point), he was catching up Peirsol on every turn. He looked good because Peirsol, in the lane adjacent to him doesn't have good turns. ;)

[Gareth Eckley]

Compare Rebecca Cookes' freestyle technique against Manadou. Cooke has a lower elbow, deeper pull, larger cross sectional area exposed to the water creating more drag, splashy entry and does not fully extend forward into the catch. She has a higher stroke rate and lower stroke length than Manadou.

In short, the UK swimmer swims as the world used to before Thorpe and some others showed the excellence of maintaining a higher elbow, with a shallower pull and not rushing the hand entry into catch phase.

A lot of swimmers from other countries are swimming with this superior technique, but i have not seen it from the UK swimmers !

:cry:

[mad4it]

Michael Phelps - final stroke of the 100 Fly final. Excellent to come from behind and looking like he was out of the medals to win the race! Great back-end speed and precise timing.

James Hickman - 100Fly semi (or was it his heat) to go around 12m from the turn and really catch the rest of the field was awesome.

[lane4]

James Hickman - 100Fly semi (or was it his heat) to go around 12m from the turn and really catch the rest of the field was awesome.
He was so awesome in fact that he went slower than his heat and didn't progress to the final!

:shocking: :clear:

[selkie]

Compare Rebecca Cookes' freestyle technique against Manadou. Cooke has a lower elbow, deeper pull, larger cross sectional area exposed to the water creating more drag, splashy entry and does not fully extend forward into the catch. She has a higher stroke rate and lower stroke length than Manadou.

In short, the UK swimmer swims as the world used to before Thorpe and some others showed the excellence of maintaining a higher elbow, with a shallower pull and not rushing the hand entry into catch phase.


IMO, Thorpe isn't the perfect stroke model unless you, too, are two meters tall and have size 14 (US) . Lots of times, women are better off going with a slightly shorter stroke and higher stroke rate than similar height men. Interesting bit from Libby Lenton's bio at NBC's Olympic web site:

"The first thing Widmer did was change her stroke, switching her from a "catch-up" technique favored by Ian Thorpe ... to a more conventional stroke. Widmer also increased her training sessions from seven to 10 per week."

Result- world record in the 100M free.

The swimmer I usually tell new triathletes to look at is Lindsay Benko. She's got a three bears freestyle- not too long for most people like Thorpe is, not the supershort stroke you get from some of the elite distance women, but in the middle and "just right" if you're looking for a sort of freestyle template that can be easily customised to a swimmer's body type down the road.

[Steve]

But his miserable lazy relay lead off split this morning has cost Australia a place in the final. Thorpe can go home early now.

Loved this quote form Stephen J Thomas on Swiminfo - I swim with the guy here and he's got quite a good dry sense of humour - this made me laugh out loud!

"Notice someone missing from this list [The final line up]? That's right, the Aussie men will not be in the final again. In Barcelona they were DQ'ed for a 'fast' change. Here they were just too bloody slow, finishing ninth. "

[Sean]

"The first thing Widmer did was change her stroke, switching her from a "catch-up" technique favored by Ian Thorpe ... to a more conventional stroke. Widmer also increased her training sessions from seven to 10 per week."

Result- world record in the 100M free.

But if you actually watch her WR swim you will see that her stroke was in fact a more relaxed stroke to what she has swum in the final at the Aussie nationals and at the Olympics. She is in fact a better fly swimmer then a freestyle swimmr, but does not do much work on her fly in training , preffering freestyle.

The French girl in the 400m, I thought had an awful stroke, with no control over the lower half of her body and just using the legs to balance herself. An incredible pull, using her upper body strength to good effect.

Rebecca Cooke - Don't even go there! Both under the water and over the water - BAD!

Just watch Hackett tonight for quality stroke technique in freestyle. In my opinion the best in the world at present.

[Gareth Eckley]

I want to watch the british swimmers and marvel at their beautiful, efficient strokes and great underwater and wall work. Rebecca Cooke is known for training very hard, so why waste her time !

Her coach should take 6 months to totally rebuild her stroke so that she has a chance to compete at the highest level.

If i was her coach I would have been deeply embarassed at watching her swim in this final, the same goes for Katy Sexton and most of the other british swimmers.

They have bought into the programme and are training very hard, but they are being let down from a lack of technique work.

Why don't we put an endless pool in every major club, with cameras so that the swimmers technique can be honed to perfection. Lots of drill work, and lots of wall work.

I would like to see a goal where at next years worlds the UK swimmers have the BEST starts and turns of any team.

Simon Burnett was OK , but then he trains in the US, a wise move it seems. :cry:

[Gareth Eckley]

Grant Hackett, dips his head down when his right hand enters the water, this costs him a bit of efficiency. It was really obvious watching him swim the 400m side by side with Thorpe.

Of course Hackett has a loping stroke, which a lot of the best swimmers have these days.

Thorpes head is stationary relative to the vertical axis, it never moves up or down during his stroke. Thorpe has a superior stroke to that of Hackett, watch very carefully in the 1500m tonight and you will see what i mean.
:)

[Meiri]

Yes, i've noticed it too.. it looks like one arm is pulling stronger than the other when he's swimming freestyle. he's like jumping up and down a bit, and it probobly costs him some efficiency. and i noticed that Phelps also swims freestyle this way in the 200 free.
Thorpe's stroke on the other hand, is completly clean and efficient.

[Dreama]

I noticed in the womens 4 x 200 that Karen Pickerings turns were quite good, pulling her back on most of the turns, shame she had to go in with so much to do though