Is there any limit to how far you are allowed to swim underwater in freestyle? If not and if it's true that dolphining underwater is faster than anything done on the surface, why don't we see people racing the 50 free underwater? Before the limitation was placed on back and fly, what were the best times achieved by swimming underwater in those events?
Personally I find even long pullouts are torture, I'm just curious.
Parents
Former Member
It was lazy of me to not look up the rule myself:
SW 5.3 Some part of the swimmer must break the surface of the water throughout the race, except it shall be permissible for the swimmer to be completely submerged during the turn and for a distance of not more than 15 metres after the start and each turn. By that point, the head must have broken the surface.
But the wording of the rule got me wondering, is modern breaststroke, which can involve periods of being completely submerged in each stroke cycle, legal freestyle? Or does it violate "must break the surface throughout the race"?
It was lazy of me to not look up the rule myself:
SW 5.3 Some part of the swimmer must break the surface of the water throughout the race, except it shall be permissible for the swimmer to be completely submerged during the turn and for a distance of not more than 15 metres after the start and each turn. By that point, the head must have broken the surface.
But the wording of the rule got me wondering, is modern breaststroke, which can involve periods of being completely submerged in each stroke cycle, legal freestyle? Or does it violate "must break the surface throughout the race"?
