Recently I watched Denis Pankratov’s finals’ swims (two golds – 100 & 200m fly) at the Atlanta Olympics. His 25m long underwater kick helped him win these events. His underwater speed was obvious as he gained a significant advantage at the breakout point over the 2nd and 3rd place finishers whose times were 52.5 sec - still good ten years later (not wearing full body suit!).
What is interesting – his underwater kick was not streamlined. His hands were 10+ inches apart and they were making a wave-like motion. This technique breaks two main rules of the efficient underwater dolphin kick demonstrated by Ian Crocker in the March issue of The Swimming World magazine:
1. Keep the hands in a streamlined position, and
2. Keep the head hidden within the streamline.
Can anyone comment on why Pankratov’s (arguably wrong?) underwater kick was still fast:dunno:
Dmitri
Parents
Former Member
I have always believed some of the things some of the time, but with experience, mine and others, I see mold-makers not following suit with the understood "way to do things."
Think about this: if you do a weight-room pulldown with both hands (front lat pulldown hands close together), you will pull xxx pounds. And then get on the pulldown machine where your arms and hands are further apart. Voila, you will pull more weight because more of your entire upper body is aiding the effort.
I think it is obvious that by his not streamlining to the norm and having arms/hands further apart, he is able to pull more water thus = faster. It overcomes the word streamlining. More of his body is being used.
I do a lot of under/over drills and when my arms/hands are further apart, I travel faster. Experiment and find out. Next question: is this legal by today's standards or is he swimming "another stroke" so to speak.
I have always believed some of the things some of the time, but with experience, mine and others, I see mold-makers not following suit with the understood "way to do things."
Think about this: if you do a weight-room pulldown with both hands (front lat pulldown hands close together), you will pull xxx pounds. And then get on the pulldown machine where your arms and hands are further apart. Voila, you will pull more weight because more of your entire upper body is aiding the effort.
I think it is obvious that by his not streamlining to the norm and having arms/hands further apart, he is able to pull more water thus = faster. It overcomes the word streamlining. More of his body is being used.
I do a lot of under/over drills and when my arms/hands are further apart, I travel faster. Experiment and find out. Next question: is this legal by today's standards or is he swimming "another stroke" so to speak.
