What stroke are you best at? (not necessarily favorite)
Former Member
Note: This poll is not about your "favorite stroke", for which there is already a thread, although for many the two coincide. I think this should be a more interesting aspect, technique-wise.
Where's the IM choice? That is by far my best stroke!
This one is a hard one for me to answer as it varies by distance, some more clear than others
For a 500 & up, freestyle
For a 50 or a 200, butterfly
For a 100, probably butterfly ... but only if I'm tapered just right or if I could wear my B70 Nero Comp again ... otherwise, my 100s routinely disappoint me
It has also varied by age ...
When I was 15 or 16, my best 200 was backstroke and I'm not sure I had the strength to swim a 200 fly
By the time I was 19 or 20, my best 200 was butterfly and I flopped around like a dead fish on backstroke
... and, so, I suspect it will vary further as I age
... but there is one truth in my swimming that will never change -- breaststroke will always be, by far, my weakest stroke. That is, until Mr. Salnikov has his way with the stroke and I can do 60% of it all underwater SDK (swimswam.com/.../). Then, and only then, might I be able to finally say I can swim breaststroke ... precisely by not swimming it.
if the 500 backstroke were a recognized event
Why is there no 400m or longer backstroke race?
Us weird people in Australia race backstroke at distances up to and including 1500m. Records to beat: www.portal.aussi.org.au/.../records.php
(Note: those races held only at specific long-distance LC or long-distance SC meets. In my state, you won't even get a 400 free outside of that. Main Nationals only has standard events)
Age will probably be decisive later in life: an 85-yr old most likely can't do any other stroke better than backstroke :D
Btw, I wonder if Mr. Salnikov stopped swimming years ago? He seems to have gained a lot of weight.
Freestyle seems to work best for me, especially inversely proportional to distance, backstroke was the easiest to learn, *** is my worst but should be my best, and fly was the easiest to swim fast but most difficult for to build endurance.
I learned free almost 5 years ago, fly about 3 years ago, back a little over 2 years ago, and I'm not certain I've really learned breaststroke yet - lol
... but there is one truth in my swimming that will never change -- breaststroke will always be, by far, my weakest stroke. That is, until Mr. Salnikov has his way with the stroke and I can do 60% of it all underwater SDK (swimswam.com/.../). Then, and only then, might I be able to finally say I can swim breaststroke ... precisely by not swimming it.
That would suck. Might as well get rid of all the short course stroke 50's then and just have a 50 dolphin kick...
That would suck. Might as well get rid of all the short course stroke 50's then and just have a 50 dolphin kick...
What's sdk? I've asked this before and forgot what it is.
I am a freestylist by trade.
Us weird people in Australia race backstroke at distances up to and including 1500m. Records to beat: www.portal.aussi.org.au/.../records.php
(Note: those races held only at specific long-distance LC or long-distance SC meets. In my state, you won't even get a 400 free outside of that. Main Nationals only has standard events)
:applaud:
Unfortunately, librarian is not on the Skilled Occupations List for Australian work visa consideration so I'm SOL for not being on the SOL. :( I could see swimming backstroke in a longer freestyle race for the fun of it someday, though, but probably not meters because those meets are hard to find around here.
... but there is one truth in my swimming that will never change -- breaststroke will always be, by far, my weakest stroke. That is, until Mr. Salnikov has his way with the stroke and I can do 60% of it all underwater SDK (swimswam.com/.../).
I can't believe backstroke is in the lead! So many masters seem to grumble about it.
I will be over the moon if the breaststroke rule is changed for the start! But I thought Salnikov's comments were very ambiguous. What does he mean that 2-3 would be the maximum kicks one might take? That only makes sense if there were a 15 m rule in breaststroke, which there isn't and there was no explicit suggestion that such a rule would be added. Without a 15 meter rule, you could take 10+ dolphin kicks to the 15 m mark and then do a *** pullout. I don't see why you'd eliminate a pullout unless you were worried about oxygen. If they did impose a 15 meter rule, then yeah I'd skip the pullout and just kick to the 15 m mark.
Another article on same: www.swimmingworldmagazine.com/.../33586.asp
