Why are kids faster now days?

First off, it's not just the kids who are swimming faster. My 2006 almanac shows that all of the men's world records in swimming were set in 2000 or later, and that the same is true in women's swimming except for some long-standing distance freestyle records set in 1988 and 1989 by Janet Evans and a 200m backstroke record set in 1991 by Kristina Egerszegi. The record board at my local YMCA bears out what you are saying, though. But it also gives some clues about what the cause may be. There are quite a number of long-standing records in the 8 and under age group. In fact, the only records from this millenium were set by a boy who, significantly, has two older brothers and two older sisters who are competitive swimmers, and who consequently began swimming at a very young age (I know he was competing by at least age 6). But there are only a few old records in the 9-10 age group, and there are no old records in the 11-12 age group and above! The message is pretty clear! First, the cause of the faster times is not new swimming pool design, or better lane lines, or better starting blocks, or better swimsuits, or electronic timing systems. All of the swimmers, regardless of age, would benefit from these things, so they can't explain why the improvements are not being seen in the youngest swimmers. Nor is it the rule changes. First, beneficial rule changes have been made for only some strokes, but the improvements have been seen for all strokes. Second, the rule changes should, if anything, benefit younger swimmers more, since they were trained to take advantage of the new rules from the beginning, whereas older swimmers have had to retrain their strokes to take advantage of the rule changes. Third, most of the rule changes weren't all that recent. Backstroke flipturns have been allowed for more than a decade, so that can't explain why so many backstroke records have been set since 2000. What has changed is improvements in training and technique. And that can also explain why the improvements don't appear in the youngest age groups, who have only had one or two years of competitive training, but gradually appear over the next few years. Bob

First off, it's not just the kids who are swimming faster. My 2006 almanac shows that all of the men's world records in swimming were set in 2000 or later, and that the same is true in women's swimming except for some long-standing distance freestyle records set in 1988 and 1989 by Janet Evans and a 200m backstroke record set in 1991 by Kristina Egerszegi. The record board at my local YMCA bears out what you are saying, though. But it also gives some clues about what the cause may be. There are quite a number of long-standing records in the 8 and under age group. In fact, the only records from this millenium were set by a boy who, significantly, has two older brothers and two older sisters who are competitive swimmers, and who consequently began swimming at a very young age (I know he was competing by at least age 6). But there are only a few old records in the 9-10 age group, and there are no old records in the 11-12 age group and above! The message is pretty clear! First, the cause of the faster times is not new swimming pool design, or better lane lines, or better starting blocks, or better swimsuits, or electronic timing systems. All of the swimmers, regardless of age, would benefit from these things, so they can't explain why the improvements are not being seen in the youngest swimmers. Nor is it the rule changes. First, beneficial rule changes have been made for only some strokes, but the improvements have been seen for all strokes. Second, the rule changes should, if anything, benefit younger swimmers more, since they were trained to take advantage of the new rules from the beginning, whereas older swimmers have had to retrain their strokes to take advantage of the rule changes. Third, most of the rule changes weren't all that recent. Backstroke flipturns have been allowed for more than a decade, so that can't explain why so many backstroke records have been set since 2000. What has changed is improvements in training and technique. And that can also explain why the improvements don't appear in the youngest age groups, who have only had one or two years of competitive training, but gradually appear over the next few years. Bob