Key Contributors to Top-Elite Swimming Performance: Differences Between Junior and Adult Female Freestyle Swimmers

PURPOSE: To investigate contributions of start, turn, and clean-swimming performance on total race time in top-elite junior and adult female swimmers. METHODS: A total of 681 long-course races from European junior and adult championships (50-1500 m including heats, semifinals, and finals) were video-analyzed. RESULTS: Start, turn, and clean-swimming performances showed a nonlinear development across race distances in both junior and adult swimmers. Start times progressively increased from 50 to 400 m and plateaued at 800 m. Turn times increased and clean-swimming speed decreased from 50 to 200 m and plateaued at 400 m. Clean-swimming speed showed the largest contribution to total race time. Start performance contributed most to sprint races, and the contribution of turn performance resembled an inverted U-shape, with highest contributions to 200- and 400-m races. Adult swimmers showed significantly faster start times over 50- (6.03%) to 200-m races (5.86%). Age-group differences in turn times were significant for 100 (4.92%) and 200 m (6.49%) but gradually declined over longer race distances. Clean-swimming speeds differed most over 50- (3.17%) and 100-m races (1.71%), with consistent but small differences for longer race distances (1.23%-1.34%). Percentile-based reference values were incorporated into a software-based tool that predicts and modulates total race time according to changes in start, turn, and clean-swimming performance. CONCLUSIONS: The present findings help coaches identify individual swimmers' strengths and weaknesses and translate performance analysis data into targeted training and race strategies.