All other things being equal, resistance (in any medium, not just water) increases at a rate greater than the increase in speed (the square of the speed increase, I believe).
But there are things a swimmer can do to minimize resistance (general body position being just one), so that faster swimmers are not necessarily creating more resistance to their movement through the water than slower swimmers are.
Regarding the amount of "work" being done, there was another thread recently that addressed this to some degree. Physicists will tell you that moving through the water faster requires more work, using their unambiguous definition of "work". Whether that has anything to do with perceived effort on the part of the swimmer is another thing.
All other things being equal, resistance (in any medium, not just water) increases at a rate greater than the increase in speed (the square of the speed increase, I believe).
But there are things a swimmer can do to minimize resistance (general body position being just one), so that faster swimmers are not necessarily creating more resistance to their movement through the water than slower swimmers are.
Regarding the amount of "work" being done, there was another thread recently that addressed this to some degree. Physicists will tell you that moving through the water faster requires more work, using their unambiguous definition of "work". Whether that has anything to do with perceived effort on the part of the swimmer is another thing.
