A friend of mine has argued to me that in an IM if you were to dolphin kick off the wall on your back as you start the freestyle leg and then rotate and break out on your front at 14m that you would be DQed for having swum backstroke in the free leg, which is not legal. I think it would be legal. The rules don't specify exactly how different the freestyle leg must be from the three fixed strokes so there is definite ambiguity. If a swimmer swam a half length of fly and then a half length of *** should they be DQed? Would this logic apply to a half length of on the back dolphin followed by a half length of front crawl? This is not entirely academic as some people find they can dolphin faster on their back then on their front. And dolphin kicking on the front is legal fly so the same logic applies to any dolphin kicking.
Any high level officials that would like to weigh in?
Thanks!
P.S. Would butterfrog be legal for the free leg for non-masters but illegal for masters?
Yes it is legal. Just as doing the corkscrew would be legal for the freestyle in the IM even though you spend part of the time on the back. The cycle of the corkscrew would be illegal in the backstroke so it could not be considered backstroke. If you took two strokes backstroke (one each arm) and then flipped over in a corkscrew manner then you would be illegal in the IM.
Yes it is legal. Just as doing the corkscrew would be legal for the freestyle in the IM even though you spend part of the time on the back. The cycle of the corkscrew would be illegal in the backstroke so it could not be considered backstroke. If you took two strokes backstroke (one each arm) and then flipped over in a corkscrew manner then you would be illegal in the IM.
