Full disclosure: I am a pure (i.e. "drop dead") sprinter :)]
Watching Track & Field, I'm always struck how they offer what can truly be described as "pure" sprints: the 100m dash (and in indoors, the 60m). These are races that time sub-10 and sub-7 seconds at the elite level. Yet swimming's shortest race is 21 seconds (for the rest of us, quite a bit more than 21 seconds ...).
I was speaking with some sprint swimming coaches who agreed that even our "splash & dash" 50 free is not a true sprint ... it's close, but the best sprinters actually back off a tiny fraction from their absolute max to maintain a greater speed overall. At my USMS level, the winning times are in the low 25's. There's no way that's a true sprint -- 25 seconds is not entirely ATP-fueled. And while it's mostly anaerobic, is it entirely? Certainly a sub-10 or sub-7 race would be.
Time-wise, our 50 parallels Track & Field's 200 rather than their marquee sprint, the 100.
In my fantasy world, I imagine a 25m race at the international level (swimming through the finish like Track & Field athletes) ... fastest reaction, fastest acceleration, fastest underwater & surface, fastest ABSOLUTE speed.
Before 1988, our "shortest" Olympic race was the 100m!
During the 100m dash the announcer said that Usain Bolt takes 41 steps and everyone else takes about 44. In the 50m free the stroke counts range from about 34-38. If you account for the time flying through the air and the breakout, swimmers don't get into there all out stroke until 3 or 4 seconds into it. In swimming, you are maintain the speed from the start in the very beginning of the race. The beginning of the 100m dash takes a lot of energy to accelerate to top speed. I ran track in middle school and the 100m dash definitely isn't easy even though it's a really short race time wise. I think the 50 free and 100m dash are pretty close in how much energy it requires.
During the 100m dash the announcer said that Usain Bolt takes 41 steps and everyone else takes about 44. In the 50m free the stroke counts range from about 34-38. If you account for the time flying through the air and the breakout, swimmers don't get into there all out stroke until 3 or 4 seconds into it. In swimming, you are maintain the speed from the start in the very beginning of the race. The beginning of the 100m dash takes a lot of energy to accelerate to top speed. I ran track in middle school and the 100m dash definitely isn't easy even though it's a really short race time wise. I think the 50 free and 100m dash are pretty close in how much energy it requires.
