At the risk of touching off another flame war...
Please let the record reflect that Adrienne Binder, a self described Total Immersion swimmer, posted the following results at NCAA Div. I Championships:
1650 Free - 15:57.64 3rd
georgiadogs.collegesports.com/.../060316F015.htm
400 IM - 4:11.83 4th
georgiadogs.collegesports.com/.../060316F008.htm
500 Free - 4:41.99 4th
georgiadogs.collegesports.com/.../060316F002.htm
Acknowledging the caveat that she is a Junior at Auburn Univ. and therefore has been swimming in their program for three years and therefore is not a "pure" TI swimmer (to the extent the results of any swimmer can be purely attributed to one coach, program or school of technique and training).
This pretty clearly demonstrates that it is possible to "succeed" at the highest levels of competition while using TI principles. This is not to say that everyone will "succeed" using TI, or that everyone can "succeed" using TI, or indeed that TI necessarily has value for everyone.
However, we ain't the ones hollering "Show me a world class TI swimmer!" Well, there you have it.
Matt
Any pause or delay of effective propulsive inertia hinders swimming speed.
I would disagree with this. OK, technically this may be correct. If you could make 100% of your stroke propulsive (i.e., no deceleration phase) you would swim faster. However, this is impossible to achieve. Because of this the goal should be to maximize the propulsive component (which EVF is especially good for), while minimizing the deceleration component (which TI is good for by emphasizing a streamlined body position). In this way I think TI and EVF can be complementary.
Any pause or delay of effective propulsive inertia hinders swimming speed.
I would disagree with this. OK, technically this may be correct. If you could make 100% of your stroke propulsive (i.e., no deceleration phase) you would swim faster. However, this is impossible to achieve. Because of this the goal should be to maximize the propulsive component (which EVF is especially good for), while minimizing the deceleration component (which TI is good for by emphasizing a streamlined body position). In this way I think TI and EVF can be complementary.
