Race Strategies of Open Water Swimmers in the 5-km, 10-km, and 25-km Races of the 2017 FINA World Swimming Championships.
Loading...
Identifiers
Publication date
2019
Start date of the public exhibition period
End date of the public exhibition period
Advisors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Frontiers in Psychology
Share
Abstract
Despite literature on the pacing strategies of endurance sports, there is an existing lack
of knowledge about the swimmers’ tactical decisions in the open water races. The aims
of the present research were (1) to compare the pacing profiles and tactical strategies of
successful elite open water swimmers (men and women) in the 5-km, 10-km, and 25-km
races and (2) to relate these pacing strategies to the end race results. Intermediate split
times, positions and gaps with leaders of the first ten swimmers classified in the 2017
FINA World Swimming Championships races were collected from the public domain
and were related to the finishing positions. Overall swimming velocities of the 5-km
races were faster than the 10-km (d 0.03 0.03 m/s) and the 25-km (d 0.14 0.01
m/s) events with male swimmers achieving relatively faster mean velocities than females
in the 5-km (d 0.12 0.01 m/s) compared to the 25-km (d 0.08 0.01 m/s) events.
Medallist swimmers achieved moderate faster overall velocities than finalists in the 25-
km races (0.01 0.01 m/s) only. Inter-level differences were detected in selected splits
for each race distance. Pacing profiles presented lap to lap velocity improvements in the
5-km and men’s 10-km races (from C0.02 0.00 to C0.11 0.01 m/s) but also midrace
decreases in the women’s 10-km and on the 25-km races. Successful swimmers
were located in the leading positions of the 5-km races but at mid-group in the first
part of the 10-km and 25-km races, with time gaps with leaders of 15–20 s. Faster lap
swimming velocities, mid-race leading positions and shorter time-gaps were only related
to the finishing positions in the last lap of the 10-km and in the three last laps of the
25-km events, but also in the first lap of the women’s 5-km race. Despite different midrace
positioning, successful open water swimmers typically presented negative pacing
profiles, a consistent control of mid-race gaps with leaders (15–20 s maximum) and
great spurts (4–6% faster than mean race velocities) at the end of races. Coaches
and swimmers should be aware of the different race dynamics depending to the event
distance in order to select optimal race strategies.
Doctoral program
Description
Keywords
Pacing, Tactics, Competition, Time-gap, End spurt