The backstroke wedges have been malfunctioning.
I didn't want to hijack Allen's thread about the "FINA Worlds Controversy" but his comment about the backstroke starts is something I've thought about a lot.
The swim events that I participate in are pretty much non-meet type events. So, I don't really have much experience with the starts in pool events. Consequently, there will probably be some disagreement with my comment, or just plane refusal to consider it. But I've talked with numerous swimmers who've had issues with backstroke starting "wedges" and/or handles, and other backstroke start related equipment. And, I've seen lots of complaints about that same equipment here in the swim forums. But...why in the world won't FINA take steps to have backstroke start up on the blocks like the other strokes and eliminate all that backstroke start equipment as a problem? Make it so that backstrokers dive into the water just like all the other strokes, and have to surface by the 15m line and first stroke must be on their back. Wouldn't that make things so much easier?
Dan
Yeah, that's part of the problem for me, and I assume for lots of swimmers out there--if you can only use backstroke wedges at major meets, it can be a large adjustment. For me, it's even more of an adjustment, since I never learned how to do a backstroke start from the bars (I was initially taught the standup start as a little kid right before that got phased out), so from the early 90s till just in the last two years or so, I only ever did gutter starts.
As a result, I'm used to having a starting position that's much lower in the water, so at Nats with the wedges, I can't pull it low enough to work with my habitual foot placement, so switching to a bar start makes the whole thing wonky, regardless of how well or finicky the wedge itself is.
Ok, enough complaining from me about my inadequacies as a swimmer! :D
Yeah, that's part of the problem for me, and I assume for lots of swimmers out there--if you can only use backstroke wedges at major meets, it can be a large adjustment. For me, it's even more of an adjustment, since I never learned how to do a backstroke start from the bars (I was initially taught the standup start as a little kid right before that got phased out), so from the early 90s till just in the last two years or so, I only ever did gutter starts.
As a result, I'm used to having a starting position that's much lower in the water, so at Nats with the wedges, I can't pull it low enough to work with my habitual foot placement, so switching to a bar start makes the whole thing wonky, regardless of how well or finicky the wedge itself is.
Ok, enough complaining from me about my inadequacies as a swimmer! :D
