Mutual of Omaha Duel in the Pool

the duel in the pool is not as exciting to watch as the Worlds, Trials or the Olympics but we all to watch or DVR to support the sport. But, there were some good swims on yesterday's Duel. It will be cool to see Vanderkeey beat Hackett in the 200 free. Of course, it was great to see Hansen almost break his world record. When you see Brendan's older brother, it is hard to believe that they are brothers. But, they do seem to have a good relationship and Sean Hansen was really cool about Brendan beating him when Brendan was 14 and Sean was a senior in High school. I think that Brendan was taller than his brother at 14 too. Those Hansens are good people.

Thanks, what is the omega site? I didn't realize they kept track of the reaction times for starts. Is it true that the standard two foot start is slower off the blocks than the track start, or did I get bad information there?

www.omegatiming.com The track start gets you a faster reaction, but does not guarantee a better start. A swimmer using the conventional start has the strength advantage of using the power of both legs equally on the start. But there's the disadvantage of not having the body position to explode off the blocks quickly. Swimmers using a track start get quick reactions and are off the blocks first. But my observation is that they lose that advantage because they push off from the blocks first with their back foot, then their lead foot. So they're not using the strength of both legs at the same time. It's one, then the other. In essence, two swimmers of equal strength and ability on the blocks will have different starts. The track start guy will look like he's in the lead, but the normal start guy will use his strength to get into the water at a faster speed and catch the lead swimmer after entry. Watch the men's 400 free in Athens. Everyone exploded off the blocks ahead of Ian Thorpe, but he was even with them at the 15-meter mark, the typical place for breakouts in elite swimming. You'll argue that Ian's stronger, but I don't think so. Bottom line is do the start you're comfortable with.

For a good review on starts see Wayne's article "Is the Grab Start dead" at breaststroke.info.

Great, Thanks for the info! Jeanette.

Why does everyone keep asking why Duel was shown instead of Worlds? It's all about money. Whether NBC paid Mutual of Omaha or they paid NBC, it doesn't really matter.

Originally posted by jswim Is it true that the standard two foot start is slower off the blocks than the track start, or did I get bad information there? The track start is helpful in preventing false starts. Everyone at one time or another has seen the "teeter tottering" of the one swimmer who's leaned just a bit too far on their grab start ...and can't stand back up when the official does a recall. The track start is a safety in preventing this. Two legs are better than one in my opinion, even if the majority of swimmers are using the track start. I agree with Jeff's observations.

Originally posted by Allen Stark I have complained about swim announcers, especially Rowdy before so I won't get into another rant. I was at World Masters Games in Edmonton and USA Swimming should get their announcer. He announced hundreds of heats and made them all sound exciting. It was amazing.(Unfortunately ,since it was seeded by time and not age he frequently missed commenting on great swims by older swimmers.) Speaking of announcer issues. I noticed during the women's 100 ***, one of the announcers said that (I forget now) I think it was Jones, had a terrible start and was slow off the blocks compared to Hardy, however, Jones did a standard start, and hardy a track start which is naturally faster off the blocks anyway. Am I missing something, or was that a misleading statement?

No, Liesel had a slow start. She had a better start at Worlds and at Olympics.

Actually it was Rowdy Gaines that said that Liesel Jones had terrible start and was slow off the blocks compared to Jessica Hardy. He said nothing about the differences in there starts. From a viewers standpoint it looked like Hardy got an advantage right away. I went to the Omega site and found the reactions times from both swimmers. It turns out that Hardy's start had a reaction time of .68 compared to Jones at .82 and Hardy's split was :31.07 to Jones at :31.49. In comparison to the final at the World Championships, Hardy was at .66 and Jones was at .83 and Hardy's split was identical at :31.07 but Jones was faster at :31.31. Since Jones missed the World record by .01, I believe Rowdy was correct in saying that a faster start would have produced a World Record. I think Liesel Jones has been tranditionally slower off the blocks than others because I did not see a reaction time of better than .80 from the results of meets on the Omega site. Roland Schoeman is known for having a very quick start off the blocks and his reaction times show that. Nick Brunelli also has a quick start and he is one of the better ones from the USA.