Profile of female swimmers competing in the 50 m events at the 2021 LEN European Championships

• Autor(a) principal: Oliveira, João P.
• Data de Publicação: 2023
• Outros Autores: Marinho, D.A., Barbosa, Tiago M., Sampaio, Tatiana, Morais, J.E.
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Texto Completo: http://hdl.handle.net/10198/28083
• topic: Swimming; Race analysis; Swimming strokes; Curve fitting

This study aimed to understand whether there are significant differ- ences in stroke kinematics between tiers in female swimmers com- peting in the four 50 m events of the 2021 European Championships and to understand the speed-time relationship in the four race events per tier. Participants were all female swimmers (backstroke: 78 swim- mers; breaststroke: 75 swimmers; butterfly: 74 swimmers; freestyle: 87 swimmers) who participated in the 50 m events at the 2021 LEN European Championships held in Budapest (i.e. heats, semi-finals, and final). For each swimming stroke, swimmers were divided into three tiers (best-performing swimmers, intermedium-performing swimmers, and poorest-performing swimmers). Swimming speed revealed a significant tier effect (p < 0.05) in all race sections for all swimming strokes. The other stroke kinematic variables revealed divergent findings, but the stroke frequency presented an overall tier effect (p < 0.05) across all four swimming strokes. Curve fitting for all swimming strokes and tiers revealed a cubic relationship. Thus, it should be considered that female swimmers who compete in 50 m events in major competitions adopt an all-out strategy. The present data provide coaches with insightful information about the main trend in 50 m sprint events, specifically in each section of the race.