Specific and Holistic Predictors of Sprint Front Crawl Swimming Performance

• Published in: Journal of human kinetics Vol. 78; no. 1; pp. 197 - 207
• Main Authors: Strzała, Marek, Stanula, Arkadiusz, Krężałek, Piotr, Rejdych, Wojciech, Karpiński, Jakub, Maciejczyk, Marcin, Radecki-Pawlik, Artur
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Poland Sciendo 31-03-2021
• Subjects: biomechanics; movement velocity; power; Section III – Sports Training; strength; test; movement velocity; biomechanics; power; strength; test
• ISSN: 1640-5544; 1899-7562
• DOI: 10.2478/hukin-2021-0058

The aim of the study was to examine the impact of selected water- and dry-land predictors of 50-m front crawl performance among 27 male swimmers aged 19.3 ± 2.67 years. The following water tests were performed: front crawl tethered arm stroking in a water flume (flow velocity: 0.9 m·s
) and leg tethered flutter kicking in a swimming pool. Anaerobic tests on dry land included arm cranking and a set of 10 countermovement jumps. The maximal and average forces generated by legs in tethered swimming (F
and F
) turned out to be the strongest predictors of sprint swimming aptitude. These values were strongly correlated with total speed (V
50) (r = 0.49, p < 0.05 and r = 0.54, p < 0.01, respectively), start, turn, and finishing speed (V
) (r = 0.60, p < 0.01 and r = 0.67, p < 0.01, respectively). The relationship of F
and F
with surface speed (V
) was moderate (r = 0.33, non-significant and r = 0.41, p < 0.05, respectively). The maximal force generated by arms (F
) during flume tethered swimming significantly influenced V
and V
(0.51, p < 0.01 and 0.47, p < 0.05, respectively). Its relationship with V
was close to significant (0.36, p = 0.07). Upper and lower limb dry-land tests showed lower and more holistic relationships with the 50-m front crawl race, however, being a good complement to overall fitness assessment. Specific in-water evaluation, especially the newly prepared flutter kicking test, as well as dry-land tests, can be applied to regularly monitor progress in swimming training, and to identify talented swimmers.