I think it was Ande that said "it's not how fast you swim, it's how fast you slow down." I read that a few years ago and keep on coming back to it as I have watched my kids grow in their USA Swimming careers. When kids are around 8-10, many of the races are 50s. Lots of kids can swim relatively fast 50s compared to other kids even when their stroke technique is truly awful. But then once the clock strikes 11 (years old), all of the 50s go away (less one) - and magically many of the kids with bad technique who seemed fast start losing to kids in the 100s and 200s with superior strokes. My question is at what age are we masters swimmers when we start thinking 50 backstroke, 50 butterfly and 50 breaststroke are OK to race again? It is not OK. It brings our sport down to a level where people who train only 100s or less and focus on 25s are taking over our pools. No more I say!!! I think USMS rules should only allow these races for people in their 70s and older. Who is with me?!!!
:worms: :bolt:
I'm not too sure about this. Let's say that the USMS Top 10 50 FR swimmers swim the 1,000, and the Top 10 1,000 FR swimmers swim the 50. I would wager that the sprinters will rank higher in the y/e 1,000 rankings than the distance swimmers will in the 50 rankings.
Generally speaking -- there can always be exceptions in specific age-groups or years, of course -- I think the TT rankings for the sprint events are more competitive than those of the distance events, particularly for events that are perceived as the most difficult/painful (eg, 400 IM, 200 fly, 1650 free).
I'm not too sure about this. Let's say that the USMS Top 10 50 FR swimmers swim the 1,000, and the Top 10 1,000 FR swimmers swim the 50. I would wager that the sprinters will rank higher in the y/e 1,000 rankings than the distance swimmers will in the 50 rankings.
Generally speaking -- there can always be exceptions in specific age-groups or years, of course -- I think the TT rankings for the sprint events are more competitive than those of the distance events, particularly for events that are perceived as the most difficult/painful (eg, 400 IM, 200 fly, 1650 free).
