Interesting (?) article about really fast swimming:

Former Member
Former Member
blogs.ugr.es/.../ I'm still digesting this article, and some of its conclusions may be strange. What are your thoughts? I admit that I found this when I was trying to determine the fastest 25m ever swam!! The 50m SC WR vid shows flip-turn push-off at slightly under 10sec, and I'm estimating that reaching for the wall at 25m would be ~9.5sec. Am I way off? (I know that 25m is not a true event, but it fascinates me nonetheless, because in order to do it well, you must react well, dive well, udk well, and stroke (3 times? :) ) well. ie You need to do A LOT well. And I love my 25m Thursdays, so I want to know what the fastest time is, which allows me to compare my relative (lowly) performance with other distances. (I'm a numbers geek. Sorry.))
  • What are your thoughts? I find watching Caleb Dressel to some of the most magical swimming I have ever witnessed in almost 50 years of swimming. He's an absolute delight and, though this might get me some hate mail, I find watching his performances even more 'beyond human' than Michael Phelps. He is just in another world, particularly in SCY/SCM because of his start, turns and kickouts. He's the male sprinter equivalent of watching Katie Ledecky swim distance. With that said, I am physically so different from Mr. Dressel (age, body) and have the raw speed of a banana slug, so I doubt I'll be able to apply much of what he does to my time in the water.
  • Former Member
    Former Member over 3 years ago
    I'm fascinated that 17.63sec for 50SCY is the same pace as 19.3 for 50SCM. Also, the 8.48sec recorded at the 25SCY must have been the pushoff from the flipturn. Would it be about 8.3sec if reaching? That's about 9.1sec at the same pace for 25SCM. Shouldn't the 50SCM WR be significantly faster than 20.24sec? Aside: pwb, I enjoy your 1001pools site. Banana slug? Ha! :)
  • I'm fascinated that 17.63sec for 50SCY is the same pace as 19.3 for 50SCM. Also, the 8.48sec recorded at the 25SCY must have been the pushoff from the flipturn. Would it be about 8.3sec if reaching? That's about 9.1sec at the same pace for 25SCM. Shouldn't the 50SCM WR be significantly faster than 20.24sec?It probably should be. The challenge is that, particularly for American swimmers, they rarely race SCM as a 'peak performance' meet. That might change over time if the ISL continues to grow, but I don't think a guy like Dressel has aimed to peak for an SCM meet in the same way he did for NCAA Championships. I would love to see NCAAs done in SCM some year, as I think we'd see some world records fall. Aside: pwb, I enjoy your 1001pools site. Banana slug? Ha! :)Thank you so much. It's my little passion project, so I appreciate your thoughts!
  • Thank you so much. It's my little passion project, so I appreciate your thoughts! Does the site "auto-terminate" when you swim in your 1001st pool? Like I imagine myself visiting it post 1001 and its just fireworks exploding on the screen and a message "WE DID IT GUYS!"
  • ... Aside: pwb, I enjoy your 1001pools site. Banana slug? Ha! :) Who knew that banana slugs have such a ridiculous cardiovascular engine?
  • Does the site "auto-terminate" when you swim in your 1001st pool? Like I imagine myself visiting it post 1001 and its just fireworks exploding on the screen and a message "WE DID IT GUYS!":D Well, after doing this for 13 years and racking up 460 pools, my pace of pool additions has slowed dramatically since COVID-19 showed up. I had thought I was on track to surpass the halfway point this year, to put me on track to complete this before I turn 70. 1001 is looking farther away now ... ... as for what happens when I hit that goal, maybe I can convince a daughter or future grandchild to take up the task and take it to 2,002 pools :agree:
  • Whoa!! Just 2 days ago Caeleb swam 20.16sec for 50m SC.What he did in Budapest across freestyles, fly and IMs was nothing short of incredible. If Tokyo 2021 happens, people might forget who Michael Phelps was when Caleb conquers Tokyo.
  • Former Member
    Former Member over 3 years ago
    Whoa!! Just 2 days ago Caeleb swam 20.16sec for 50m SC.