In the strokes that require that you surface within 15m of the start, does the head itself have to break the surface by the 15m mark or does the head have to surface before the feet reach the 15m mark? I had thought it was the former but just read that it was the latter and am not sure if I should believe it or not. For many swimmers there's an almost 2m difference.
Thanks in advance!
The rulebook is a little ambiguous, but judges are basically just looking for the head to come up before the marked buoy.
Your head (or any part of it, including for example, the chin if you're swimming backstroke), can surface at the buoy, in the three strokes that require surfacing at or by the 15m mark. In addition, if there are two markers in your lane (one each rope), and they are not at the same position, the buoy in question is the one that is more favorable to you (for example, the one further down the pool in your lane).
I would personally say that the rule seems pretty clear cut to me ("It shall be permissible for a swimmer to be completely submerged for a distance of not more than 15 meters (16.4 yards) after the start and after each turn. By that point, the head must have broken the surface."), because the determination only refers to what the head is doing, and not anything else, but it's very easy to think that a familiar rule is clear cut.
Patrick King
The rulebook is a little ambiguous, but judges are basically just looking for the head to come up before the marked buoy.
Your head (or any part of it, including for example, the chin if you're swimming backstroke), can surface at the buoy, in the three strokes that require surfacing at or by the 15m mark. In addition, if there are two markers in your lane (one each rope), and they are not at the same position, the buoy in question is the one that is more favorable to you (for example, the one further down the pool in your lane).
I would personally say that the rule seems pretty clear cut to me ("It shall be permissible for a swimmer to be completely submerged for a distance of not more than 15 meters (16.4 yards) after the start and after each turn. By that point, the head must have broken the surface."), because the determination only refers to what the head is doing, and not anything else, but it's very easy to think that a familiar rule is clear cut.
Patrick King
