These general rules apply to all four cycles and relays. To avoid disqualification, practice legal swimming technique during each training session and make sure you understand the rules of your races. Building a good muscle memory reduces the chances of slipping and being disqualified during the races you train so hard for! FINA has announced a rule change for underwater breaststroke withdrawal – the latest change to give officials a chance to fight and athletes an equal chance to abide by the increasingly complex breaststroke rules. Now the rule allows the dolphin`s kick from any wall to take place at any time before the breaststroke kick. In the vote, FINA accepted a new interpretation, according to which the individual kick of the dolphin on the withdrawal can take place at any time before the first fathom. Previously, the rules required some separation of hands before the first dolphin kick. The change will take effect immediately. This also applies to the lifting order in the medley relays. You must swim backstroke, breaststroke, butterfly and freestyle in that order. There has been a lot of discussion and debate about breaststroke since swimmers used a dolphin kick during the retreat. The dolphin was legalized after the 2004 Olympics, when Japanese swimmer Kitajima clearly used a dolphin kick without disqualification.

That dolphin kick wasn`t a disqualification because it was so hard to make a phone call. Since the addition of the Single Dolphin Kick, swimmers have begun using two dolphin kicks without disqualification. After these rule changes, there were also great losses of time, as breaststroke improved significantly over time, especially in short-distance breaststroke. NCAA men`s records in the 100 and 200 yards breaststroke have improved by ~4% since the rule change. This has become an obvious problem, as even Olympians and world record holders abuse this rule, see Katinka Hosszu during her withdrawal at the 2014 FINA Short Course World Championships in Doha clearly two runner-up kicks:Dolphin kicks in the withdrawal are so out of control that FINA has already voted on a rule allowing kicks unlimited dolphins up to the 15-meter mark (this rule change was not adopted). The 2-handed touch also applies to the butterfly and breaststroke parts of the individual medley. Initially, when the dolphin kick was added, most athletes made the dolphin kick clear during the pulldown. However, this water became muddy when many swimmers began to perform the retreat while they were still effectively in a stream, especially in Europe and South Africa, where swimmers broke world records.

Each move has its own draw rules. Make sure you know them (and train well) before race day! Many elite swimmers use the crossover curve to switch from backstroke to breaststroke in IM races. If they turn more than 90 degrees towards their belly before their hand touches the wall, they will be disqualified for not finishing the length of the back on their back. Learn how to cross-turn here> The rules still don`t require underwater withdrawal, which has led some coaches to speculate on ways to benefit from it. Especially for swimmers who aren`t primarily breaststroke swimmers, some coaches we spoke to suggested that during a long event like the 400 IM, they could ask their swimmers to skip the withdrawal completely and do a single dolphin kick before starting their swim over the water. The video above is an underwater shot during the race clearly showing a double dolphin kick. Why isn`t this race video used by officials to implement the rules they created? Almost every sport uses video review to improve the sport, especially baseball in 2013 after much resistance. However, video verification is used in many other sports for rule review.

Tennis uses Hawkeye to monitor shots that are too close to see if they are indoors or outdoors. Judo does this at their main events: the cameras provide two judges sitting on the side of the tatami with a delayed view of the fight to assist the judge leading the fight, and the system also offers a replay feature. Breaststroke swimmers now have another rule change to learn and relearn in breaststroke. (Above, U.S. international Cody Miller). File photo via Tim Binning/TheSwimPictures.com Technically, you can swim every shot in a freestyle event. If you decide to swim another shot, the rules of that shot apply. Note that if you choose breaststroke in the 50 free, your time will still count towards the 50 free. Recently, FINA changed the breaststroke withdrawal rule so that the swimmer can perform his dolphin kick at any time during his withdrawal.

This replaces the old rule that swimmers slightly separate their hands before being allowed to kick dolphins. Although this amendment improves the transparency of the rule for the swimmer, it avoids a much more serious problem, dolphin kicks during breaststroke. If you have to stop and get up in the middle of the race, that`s probably fine, as long as you stay in one place while resting and pushing yourself off the wall (not off the ground) when you start swimming again.