The role of the biomechanics analyst in swimming training and competition analysis

Abstract

Swimming analysts aid coaches and athletes in the decision-making by providing evidence-based recommendations. The aim of this narrative review was to report the best practices of swimming analysts that have been supporting high-performance athletes. It also aims to share how swimming analysts can translate applied research into practice. The role of the swimming analyst, as part of a holistic team supporting high-performance athletes, has been expanding and is needed to be distinguished from the job scope of a swimming researcher. As testing can be time-consuming, analysts must decide what to test and when to conduct the evaluation sessions. Swimming analysts engage in the modelling and forecast of the performance, that in short-and mid-term can help set races target-times, and in the long-term provide insights on talent and career development. Races can be analysed by manual, semi-automatic or fully automatic video analysis with single or multi-cameras set-ups. The qualitative and quantitative analyses of the swim strokes, start, turns, and finish are also part of the analyst job scope and associated with race performance goals. Land-based training is another task that can be assigned to analysts and aims to enhance the performance, prevent musculoskeletal injuries and monitor its risk factors.

Turn Performance Variation in European Elite Short-Course Swimmers

“…As individual race strategies may influence turn phases, i.e., by increasing the underwater phase to reduce wave drag [47][48][49], previous studies have proposed using individualized distance, rather than fixed-distance measurements, to investigate inter-individual turn strategies [35]. However, fixed-distance measurements are still commonly used for regular assessment of the training process using simple tools, such as stopwatches, and for obtaining comparative data for race analyses during competitions [11]. Furthermore, fixed-distance measurements, i.e., OUT-5 and OUT-5-10, that include crucial parts of the turn (gliding, underwater, and transition phase) are influenced by turn velocity, which is the most relevant indicator of turn performance [30,35].…”

“…Any change in performance showing a CV ≥ 0.5% is considered relevant for practice [5]. However, variations may differ across the different sections of swim races, i.e., start, turn, clean swimming, and finish [10,11]. Indeed, in addition to interfering with clean swimming performance, the aforementioned positive pacing pattern also affected turn performance towards the end of a 200 m race simulation [12].…”

Performance Development of European Swimmers Across the Olympic Cycle

“…Race analyses were conducted as described previously (Gonjo and Olstad, 2020a;Barbosa et al, 2021) and video footages were manually analyzed using motion analysis software (Kinovea 0.9.1; Joan Charmant & Contrib., kinovea.org). Video footages were synchronized to the visible light flash of the starting signal and markings at the lane ropes were used to identify the 5, 15, 25, 35, and 45 m marks of each lap.…”

“…At major international competitions, swim analysts closely monitor and analyze races to provide quantitative feedback to their swimmers and coaches (Barbosa et al, 2021). Reference values established by world-class swimmers and championship finalists provide guidelines and benchmarks for individualized case reports (Barbosa et al, 2021).…”

“…At major international competitions, swim analysts closely monitor and analyze races to provide quantitative feedback to their swimmers and coaches (Barbosa et al, 2021). Reference values established by world-class swimmers and championship finalists provide guidelines and benchmarks for individualized case reports (Barbosa et al, 2021). Previous research in the field of race analysis mainly focused on a particular swimming stroke (Gonjo and Olstad, 2020b;Olstad et al, 2020) or race distance (Morais et al, 2019(Morais et al, , 2020Polach et al, 2021) with an underrepresentation of female swimmers (Gonjo and Olstad, 2020a).…”