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!
Wouldn't it be useful to try some of these as demonstration events at local meets before proposing them nationally? Would the presence of 25s or an 800IM at a local meet mean it can't get a sanction?
I haven't seen any meets with the longer events, though I have seen meets with 25s. I've also seen a meet with odd relays (eg, 400 backstroke or 400 IM relay).
The meet gets a sanction but the so-called "non-standard" events results are not submitted for Top 10 consideration, records, etc, and this is stated explicitly in the meet information packet. (Though, interestingly, it is possible to get a legit split from a non-standard event: for example, you can do a split request for the first 200 of an 800 IM and it would be considered for Top 10 in the 200 fly.)
Wouldn't it be useful to try some of these as demonstration events at local meets before proposing them nationally? Would the presence of 25s or an 800IM at a local meet mean it can't get a sanction?
I haven't seen any meets with the longer events, though I have seen meets with 25s. I've also seen a meet with odd relays (eg, 400 backstroke or 400 IM relay).
The meet gets a sanction but the so-called "non-standard" events results are not submitted for Top 10 consideration, records, etc, and this is stated explicitly in the meet information packet. (Though, interestingly, it is possible to get a legit split from a non-standard event: for example, you can do a split request for the first 200 of an 800 IM and it would be considered for Top 10 in the 200 fly.)
