I will just add one additional comment to what Allan said. One factor that I have found in older outdoor 50 Meter Pools is the pressure of water from the jets that come into the pool. Older pools have little leaks and the water levels go down faster than newer pools. I have swam in pools in the outer lanes where you feel this water pressure and it can create more waves than you already have to deal with. You could have jets all along the wall and it creates more turbulence than the inside lanes. Some of the inside lanes get this as well but only at the ends and only in certain lanes. When you have a lot of water pressure filling the pool its an advantage to be as far away from the outside lanes and in the insides lanes as possible.
The only instance that I see where an outside lane is an advantage is the really good olympic pools. I remember watching the 2004 Athens Olympics and seeing Roland Schoeman swimming in lane 1 in the 100 meter free and seeing no waves to the outside at all. In those pools the outside lane is separated by another lane and there is no backwatch to that side that other swimmers in the lanes 2 thru 7 have to handle. It was pointed out on TV that this could be an advantage for those swimmers. Another instance of this was at the recent 2007 World Championships in the Women's 800 Free Relay that was swimming in an outside lane. They set the World Reocord and it didn't seem to bother them at all. They had smooth water on one side while they were swimming. Of course the arguement here would be they were so far ahead in the race that it didn't matter because they would not have gotten that much turbulance in the middle with the kind of lead they had throughout the race.
I will just add one additional comment to what Allan said. One factor that I have found in older outdoor 50 Meter Pools is the pressure of water from the jets that come into the pool. Older pools have little leaks and the water levels go down faster than newer pools. I have swam in pools in the outer lanes where you feel this water pressure and it can create more waves than you already have to deal with. You could have jets all along the wall and it creates more turbulence than the inside lanes. Some of the inside lanes get this as well but only at the ends and only in certain lanes. When you have a lot of water pressure filling the pool its an advantage to be as far away from the outside lanes and in the insides lanes as possible.
The only instance that I see where an outside lane is an advantage is the really good olympic pools. I remember watching the 2004 Athens Olympics and seeing Roland Schoeman swimming in lane 1 in the 100 meter free and seeing no waves to the outside at all. In those pools the outside lane is separated by another lane and there is no backwatch to that side that other swimmers in the lanes 2 thru 7 have to handle. It was pointed out on TV that this could be an advantage for those swimmers. Another instance of this was at the recent 2007 World Championships in the Women's 800 Free Relay that was swimming in an outside lane. They set the World Reocord and it didn't seem to bother them at all. They had smooth water on one side while they were swimming. Of course the arguement here would be they were so far ahead in the race that it didn't matter because they would not have gotten that much turbulance in the middle with the kind of lead they had throughout the race.
