Biomechanical Analysis of the Breaststroke Start

Abstract

The aim of this study was to analyse the kinematics and coordination of the breaststroke start as regards to skill level using a video device. Ten national swimmers were compared with an international swimmer. All swimmers simulated the 100-m pace for 25 m after a grab start. The kinematical analysis assessed the durations of leave block, flight, entry and glide, pull-out, and the swim up to the 15-m mark phases. The coordination analysis assessed the durations of the time spent with the arms close to the thighs after a complete arm pull-push, the time gap between the end of the arm recovery and the beginning of the leg propulsion during the pull-out phase and at the first swim stroke, and the time gap between the end of leg propulsion and the beginning of arm propulsion. The international swimmer had a shorter 15-m start time than the national swimmers due to shorter times in the swim phase, longer times in the underwater phase, longer times spent with the arms close to the thighs and in glide with the body in extension. The whole population showed a negative superposition of leg propulsion with arm recovery at the pull-out phase, which disappeared at the first swim stroke.

The Influence of Swimming Start Components for Selected Olympic and Paralympic Swimmers

“…Studies of specific groups such as these elite athletes are typically limited to small numbers-for example, the analysis of breaststroke swim start with 10 swimmers (Seifert et al, 2007). Although the number of swimmers within the current study was higher than in other published research, a limitation of the current study was that the type of start (grab or track) was self-selected by the swimmer.…”

Key Factors Related to Short Course 100 m Breaststroke Performance

“…Therefore, it is not entirely clear what the determinants of the underwater phase performance are. After the entry until the breakout, swimmers perform the glide, the pull-out motion that includes the backward pull motion of the arm as well as a dolphin kick, and the arm and leg recovery motion [ 30 ]. Further studies are required to assess which of those factors affect the start segment performance.…”

Effects of different swimming race constraints on turning movements

“…When comparing the two levels of expertise, higher expertise swimmers reached longer underwater distances (except in the freestyle event) than lower expertise swimmers (Table 1), either because they exploited the breaststroke gliding phases (Seifert, Vantorre, & Chollet, 2007) or the backstroke and butterfly underwater undulatory movements (Vantorre, Seifert, Fernandes, Vilas Boas, & Chollet, 2010b). Interestingly, they also obtained faster underwater turn velocities in all events except breaststroke, even though it has been previously explained that this parameter is only important for the start performance (Burkett, Mellifont, & Mason, 2010;Cossor & Mason, 2001;Vantorre, Seifert, Fernandes, Vilas Boas, & Chollet, 2010a).…”