One Turn Away From Victory

How Improved Turn Performance Can Impact A Short-Course Swim Race

Jakub Poliacik — SVK Swimming © umimplavat.cz

We made a prediction. And it TURNed out to be true…

In early 2021 we said that a new world record in the 1500m freestyle event would be set with a better turn performance.

Six months later our prophecy became reality when Florian Wellbrock crowned himself the fastest man in the world with a new WR at the World Short-Course Championships in Abu Dhabi (ARE).

The reason for his success? You might have guessed it already — his enhanced turn performance.

After his phenomenal race, there is definitely no doubt that turns play an insignificant factor in a swimmer’s performance. Especially the longer the distance on short-course.

Turn Contribution (%) © umimplavat.cz

So, with the 16th FINA World Short-Course Championships in Melbourne (AUS) right ahead of us, we want to take a closer look at turns once more…

Quick definition of what we understand when we talk about the “turn section”:

The turn sections are commonly analyzed from 5 m before wall contact until resurfacing after the underwater phase. Of course, the latter varies in its length depending on the race distance.

Back in 2021, we made a rather juicy analysis of the 2018 (short-course) and the 2019 (long-course) 1500m freestyle World Championship men’s finals

Here are some of our main findings:

• The total race time was significantly faster for short-course, probably due to twice the number of turns involved, hence repeated velocity gains from wall push-off.
• The swimmers spent significantly less time in the swim and more time in the turn sections (short-course).
• Mean turn times were remarkably faster for long-course.
• Proved “fatigue effect” for short-course races: While the turn times in the first 500m section are almost the same on long- and short-course, they become slower on short-course for the last two 500m sections. This is probably due to the high load on the leg muscles and the repeated holding of breath during the push-off.

And all this led us to the prediction…

Based on our findings the questions arose whether the average 0.07s faster turn times seen in long-course races could be applied in 25m pool competition.

With 30 additional turns, this would add up to a performance gain of 2.03s. And that would beat the current world record…

Fast forward to the 2021 World SC Championships in Abu Dhabi…

We witnessed an astonishing new WR by Florian Wellbrock (GER) in the men’s 1500m freestyle event. He shattered the old world record due to his unparalleled turn performance.

Turns at the World SC Championships in Abu Dhabi

To give you a better understanding of the race we compared the new WR to the previous WR set by Gregorio Paltrinieri (ITA) at the 2015 European SC Championships in Netanya, ISR.

And in a further step, we also compared it to Mykhailo Romanchuk’s (UKR) Championship Record set at the 2018 World SC Championships in Hangzhou, CHN.

Here are the overall times of the three swimmers:

• Florian Wellbrock — 14:06.88 — Abu Dhabi — 2021 (New World Record)
• Gregorio Paltrinieri — 14:08.06 — Netanya — 2015 (Old World Record)
• Mykhaylo Romanchuk — 14:09.14 — Hangzhou — 2018 (Championship Record)

Wellbrock vs. Paltrinieri

First, let us have a closer look at the last two world-record holders. Wellbrock showed 2.30s faster total turn times and 1.42s slower clean swimming time than Paltrinieri. (Table 1)

Table 1: Comparison of total section times

Paltrinieri had a shorter, yet faster underwater phase, resulting in faster 5m out times. Yet, between 5m and 10m out, Wellbrock gained an average of 0.04s with each turn. Another 0.02s he gained when approaching the wall (5m in). Plus Wellbrock’s rotation times were significantly faster than Paltrinieris’s. (Table 2)

Table 2: Turn time analysis. Section split times are displayed as mean values.

Wellbrock vs. Romanchuk

Next, let’s take a more detailed look at Wellbrock’s and Romanchuk’s races. What’s particularly interesting here is that the two swimmers are characterized by a similar stroke profile. But, overall this analysis provides us with similar findings as before…

Again, Wellbrock didn’t show as fast clean swimming times as Romanchuk but gained time with greater turn performances. Compared to Romanchuk, Wellbrock turned in a total of 5.03s faster (the difference between the sum of all turn times). (Table 3)

Table 3: Comparison of total section times

One important contributing factor to Wellbrock’s faster turn times was the faster 5m in times compared to Romanchuk, which were partially attributed to faster rotation times (Table 4).

Table 4: Turn time analysis. Section split times are displayed as mean values.

To sum it up:

Wellbrock showed the slowest clean swimming times compared to the other two swimmers. But he had by far the fastest turn times and was the quickest at 5m in as well as in the section from 5m to 10m out. (Table 5)

Table 5: Summary of mean section split times of all three swimmers.

Turns can prove tricky…

We came to a conclusion in several of our studies… It seems that optimal timing and distance for the initiation of the rotation, when approaching the wall, are crucial. That is the IN-5m section.

Therefore coaches and their swimmers should pay close attention to maintaining high velocities in this first part of the turn. Especially as the race progresses.

Also, it is important to find the individual breakout distance to optimize breakout velocity and transition to the first arm strokes of the clean swimming section.

With that in mind, we should highlight that you can’t decouple turn and clean swimming sections from each other… Energy invested in one area you can’t easily use in another.

Still, a substantial part of the new WR was due to improved turn performance. And this tricky part should be seen as an opportunity that gives swimmers room to find their ideal turn.

During practice that would mean coaches should pay special attention to the wall approach (IN-5m) of their swimmers. According to individual technical and biological characteristics (sex, body height, race pace, stroke length,…).

In particular, timing and distance to the wall when initiating body rotation for the turn, require practice at swimming velocities specific to the race pace.

It’s like we always say… the magic lies within the details: The ideal combination of numerous technical details with physiological conditioning in daily practice and regular scientific analysis help to discover new potential and uplevel the performance.

With all that being said, we can’t wait what the next World SC Championships in Melbourne (AUS) are going to hold. Mark your calendars: they will start on December 13, 2022.

This time we won’t make any specific predictions of how the races will TURN out, but we guarantee you they will be fast, thrilling, and definitely worth watching.

Accompanying the Czech and Austrian Swimming Federation to Melbourne, we’ll keep you posted on Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn. So go and follow us there for some BTS of our work, little Australia vibes, and amazing insights into a huge swim event.

Until next time,
Marek (Team member umimplavat.cz)

P.S. If you want to dig a little deeper into our analysis regarding turn performances, let us know and we’ll send you our detailed studies.