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!
(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.)
SWEET!!! Nothing like taking out an 800 IM at a full speed "sprint" to get my 200 Fly time for TT purposes, and then trying to survive the backstroke afterward. :) Even though I'm on my back, I may be sinking.
Note to self...I am entered in the 800 SCM Free at the end of the NW Zone SCM meet on October...hmmm ;) (yes I realize it can't count as a 200 Fly time, because it's and 800 FREE, but the 800 IM is still a possibility. Will have to wait for the seedings to find out.)
(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.)
SWEET!!! Nothing like taking out an 800 IM at a full speed "sprint" to get my 200 Fly time for TT purposes, and then trying to survive the backstroke afterward. :) Even though I'm on my back, I may be sinking.
Note to self...I am entered in the 800 SCM Free at the end of the NW Zone SCM meet on October...hmmm ;) (yes I realize it can't count as a 200 Fly time, because it's and 800 FREE, but the 800 IM is still a possibility. Will have to wait for the seedings to find out.)
