I am just returning to competition swimming after a 10 year hiatus.... So I've forgotten the finer points of some of the rules. My question, is it legal to curl your toes over the end of the starting block, or do your feet have to be back farther?
YES - at least one foot with toes over the front edge & also both hands down at the front of the block to hold on & pull down at the start gun/whistle/sound.
There would no doubt be lots of accidents due to slippage if you couldn't get a good foot hold on the starting platform.
Why on earth backstroke is the only event where toes cannot be curled (over the gutter) is still :bitching:. Someone in the rules department needs to swim a few backstroke races.
I was under the impression that you had to have your toes at least to the edge of the block and curled over the edge was even better.If starting from the blocks, at the referee’s long whistle the swimmer “should take their positions with at least one foot at the front of the starting platform” (USMS 101.1.1 Forward Start).
Note the “should” means this is not required for Masters, however in USA Swimming it is mandatory (“shall”) that the swimmer have “at least one foot at the front of the starting platform or the deck”
True Kirk... But since yards meets aren't FINA sanctioned maybe they could bend the rules for us metric loathing Americans.
If we compete in meters then we swim like the Europeans do ...with slippery starts. :)
This used to be the case, back in the day. I still miss stand-up starts.
This used to be the case, back in the day. I still miss stand-up starts.
The high school coach for my former high school was asking how my name was on the 200 Medley Relay backstroke slot, rather than the fly slot. And another backstroker/flyer was in the fly slot.
NOTE: My backstroke SUCKS.
Well, the reason I told him was that back in 1995 my senior year of high school we decided for finals to swap positions (back and fly), since the other kid was about 2 seconds faster than me in the 50 fly. My standup start & SDK as-far-as-you-can-possibly-go backstroke was just about as fast as his backstroke. It worked...SDK till you see the flags from beneath the water, come up breath flip, and SDK back to the other flags, 3 strokes in to finish. :) Fastest backstroke I'd ever done.
In college I did a 200 Back w/ 15 meters SDKing and did great as well.
Hmmmmm...all this means I really need to work on my SDKs again. Maybe my backstroke could be better.
