I read the following PDF regarding the updated rule and interpretation for the freestyle portion of the IM:
www.usms.org/.../20150911_fina_im_interpretation.pdf
My question is regarding the freestyle flip turn. When you turn, you flip onto your back, push off and start twisting to the proper position for freestyle. It usually happens fairly fast so you're not completely on the back for any more than one kick worth at the most and by then you've begun rotating to the side. Honestly, I still flip slightly diagonally, so my feet land a bit off-horizontal but I've been working on correcting it to what has been shown to me as a more proper technique.
But I know as soon as I post this notice for my masters team on Wednesday, they are going to ask the same questions. I would assume that this position of being on the back is normal in freestyle and wouldn't constitute backstroke swimming but I've been wrong plenty of times in trying to interpret rules. But it gets me into wondering, what's going to be the line between a normal freestyle flip turn and too much time on your back? Obviously, no SDK-ing on your back down the length of the pool but exactly how fast does that twist need to be? Is there a standpoint from the officials on this yet?
Thanks in advance!
The basis of this rule is the statement 'in the style of a stroke previously swam' in IM. And FINA defined being rotated past vertical towards the back while performing dolphin kicks as in the style of backstroke and because backstroke was previously swam, this is a violation.
The problem here is that what is the style of butterfly? Butterfly is defined as an arm stroke where both arms pull underwater and recover over water simultaneously and legs moving up and down in the same manner but are not required to be physically together. Body position is defined as shoulders rotated past vertical towards the ***.
But, butterfly states that a swimmer may make any number of arm pulls and/or any number of kicks but is not required to do both. So if a swimmer is in a position with shoulders rotated past vertical towards the *** with arms in streamline and is performing a kicking motion where both feet are moving up and down together. That really meets the definition of the style of butterfly so not sure where this train will end finally end up when it crashes.
-prw
The basis of this rule is the statement 'in the style of a stroke previously swam' in IM. And FINA defined being rotated past vertical towards the back while performing dolphin kicks as in the style of backstroke and because backstroke was previously swam, this is a violation.
The problem here is that what is the style of butterfly? Butterfly is defined as an arm stroke where both arms pull underwater and recover over water simultaneously and legs moving up and down in the same manner but are not required to be physically together. Body position is defined as shoulders rotated past vertical towards the ***.
But, butterfly states that a swimmer may make any number of arm pulls and/or any number of kicks but is not required to do both. So if a swimmer is in a position with shoulders rotated past vertical towards the *** with arms in streamline and is performing a kicking motion where both feet are moving up and down together. That really meets the definition of the style of butterfly so not sure where this train will end finally end up when it crashes.
-prw
