Some breaststroke is not legal freestyle?

15 meters equals 16.41 yards or 49.215 feet. They swam a three stroke IM before 1956, ***, back and free. After 1956 it became Fly, back, *** and freestyle, or correctly some other stroke. Again backstroke still reads anything on your back, so long as you don not go underwater past 15 meters.

And yes Lindsay, it is definitely the case that submerging between the 15 meter marks during a freestyle event will get you disqualified. The rule is very clear. Quite right...but you can swim *** as long as your head doesn't not submerge, no problem for us old-timers, and you swim it illegally for example with a dolphin kick. So to add to Phil's rule phobia illegal breastroker, backstroke and or fly is legal fourth stroke as long as you don't break any of the free rules (submerged after 15 meter mark, pulling on lane line, pushing off the bottom, interfering with another swimmer etc). The illegal backstroke can become a challenge since you have to move onto your stomach while not executing a turn.

hey, y'all. here's a quirky tid bit that you might find useful to bring to mind some time in the near or distant future about medleys. No matter if it is individual medley or medley relay, it has always been and always will be: NO MATTER WHAT COMES BEFORE OR AFTER, breaststroke ALWAYS is the next stroke after backstroke.

And freestyle is always last.

Thanks for this thread! Some crazy guys here in Italy are talking about doing an 800m medley during an 800m freestyle race. They're trying to set up an entire heat of 800m medelyers (6 or 8 lanes, depending on the pool where they do it). Do you see any problem with this? They also want to do a 400m fly during a 400m freestyle race. That should be OK? Right? If anyone feels like trying that one, come on over! Regarding the rule about "if you start a freestyle race doing freestyle, you have to finish it in the same style" are you sure about that? I've heard tales of a 40-44 400m free world record holder who one time turned on his back and finished a 400m race doing backstroke, and was not dqd. Just curious.

Hi Mary, most people here seem to agree that in freestyle you are not allowed to completely submerge once you are beyond the 15m mark on each length, whether this is a problem for your 800IM depends on the style of breaststroke your swimmers swim, if they break the surface with their heads at all times during their stroke cycle they should be fine, if they submerge they could be disqualified. Actually, I've been watching video of butterfly, and I think many swimmers could be disqualified for submerging during the fly, especially longer distance fly as in the 200fly and probably even more so in 800IM. I noticed that the terminology for fly is different "The swimmer must remain on the surface until the next turn or finish." for butterfly versus "Some part of the swimmer must break the surface of the water throughout the race, except..." for freestyle. If you are able to get enough people to fill an entire heat you might inquire with the meet organizers about making an 800IM event. This would avoid the ***/fly DQ issue and have the added advantage that the turn judges could enforce the IM turn rules, under freestyle rules you would have to go on the honour system about doing legal IM turns. It would also ensure that your swimmers got to swim together which is hard to ensure otherwise. I believe that the rule about finishing with the stroke you started with has been done away with, I have heard it several times, and seen it in older swimming books, but I couldn't find any reference to it in the current FINA rules.

Hi Lindsay, Thanks for the info! I've copied your post onto the Italian forum. We're asking the same questions you all are. I think the idea to form a heat of all 800 medley and inform the judges is the best - eliminates all discussion. Here's the link: Italian Masters Swimming Forum