JUNIOR SWIMMER
GOLDMINDS
LEARN HOW TO BE A RACER It’s important to learn how to swim your event in such a way that you can perform to your potential in every possible racing situation, including different strategies for heats, semifinals and finals.
“There are two kinds of swimmers: PACERS AND RACERS. “PACERS can swim their event one way—usually all-out maximum speed. “RACERS learn how to swim their event in multiple ways and develop the racing skills to match and excel in every racing situation they face.” —Alexander Popov (4x Olympic gold medalist, 6x world champion and multiple world record holder)
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hich swimming event are you preparing for? 50 free? 100 back? 200 IM? If you’re racing your event at a meet where you have to swim it only once, then you prepare to swim the event—i.e., the stroke and the distance—as fast as you can. However, if you’re preparing to swim at a meet with a “multiround” format—i.e., heats, semifinals and finals—you need to learn how to race the same event...THREE DIFFERENT WAYS. Multi-round swimming is about knowing how to swim your event—as Popov says at the beginning of this story—like a RACER. SAME EVENT, THREE DIFFERENT RACES 1. Heats = Accurate Pacing The most important competitive skill to develop for swimming in heats is accurate pacing. As a general rule, the accuracy level of pacing skills should be mastered according to the following Pacing Skill Guidelines: • Young age group swimmers (10-12 years of age) should be able to pace their heat swims with an accuracy of plus-or-minus 1.0 second. This means if their target time is 35 seconds, they need to be able to swim between 34 and 36 seconds. • More experienced age group swimmers (13-15 years) should be able to pace their heat swims with an accuracy of plus-or40
APRIL 2021
SWIMMINGWORLD.COM
minus 0.5 seconds. This means if their target time is 35 seconds, they need to be able to swim between 34.5 and 35.5 seconds. • Older swimmers (16 years and over) should be able to pace their heat swims with an accuracy of plus-or-minus 0.1 seconds. This means if their target time is 35 seconds, they need to be able to swim between 34.9 and 35.1 seconds. Accurate pacing is a critically important competitive swimming skill. Too many swimmers make the mistake of swimming too fast in their heat swim, leading to unnecessary fatigue and subsequent disappointments in their semifinals...OR...swimming too slowly, resulting in missing out on making the semifinal round. 2. Semifinals = Time Trials The goal of swimming in a semifinal is very simple: MAKE THE FINAL. No one gets to the final because they’ve got the best looking technique, the most colorful swim cap or the nicest smile. A place in the final comes from having one of the eight (or 10) fastest swim times swum in semifinals. Therefore, semifinals are, in effect, time trials! You can finish seventh in your own semifinal race, but still make the final if your time is one of the eight (or 10) fastest overall times swum in the two semifinal heats. Semifinals are not about placings...or even winning, for that matter. It’s about swimming at your fastest to ensure you get a chance at a medal in the final. 3. Finals = Racing Skills, Strategies and Tactics And once you’re in the final, it’s about WINNING. Finals are won by the swimmers who can race—i.e., swimmers who have developed a wide range of racing skills, strategies and
[PHOTO BY MATT RUBEL PHOTOGRAPHY]
BY WAYNE GOLDSMITH
