I recently posted a question about racing and received a lot of great answers so here is another question. I am about to participate in my first race (in a pool) and I am worried about being disqualified now. What are some of the common mistakes I need to be aware of? Turns maybe?
Further down the rabbit hole ...
An Individual Medley (IM) event is actually four small races, back-to-back. This has no effect for fly, ***, and free, but for backstroke, it means you have to finish the backstroke leg using a legal backstroke finish, which is to say, ON YOUR BACK. You are not allowed to turn over on your front and do a flipturn, then push off into the breastroke leg, as it might seem natural to do, and as would be legal at the end of any other length of backstroke (except for the finish). It has to be a legal backstroke finish. I've seen several DQ's for this.
Also, on a backstroke start, you are not allowed to curl your toes over the gutter (if a gutter is present). Your toes ARE allowed to be above the water line, but they have to stay on the flat part of the wall.
Further down the rabbit hole ...
An Individual Medley (IM) event is actually four small races, back-to-back. This has no effect for fly, ***, and free, but for backstroke, it means you have to finish the backstroke leg using a legal backstroke finish, which is to say, ON YOUR BACK. You are not allowed to turn over on your front and do a flipturn, then push off into the breastroke leg, as it might seem natural to do, and as would be legal at the end of any other length of backstroke (except for the finish). It has to be a legal backstroke finish. I've seen several DQ's for this.
Also, on a backstroke start, you are not allowed to curl your toes over the gutter (if a gutter is present). Your toes ARE allowed to be above the water line, but they have to stay on the flat part of the wall.
