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Stroke rate-stroke length dynamics in elite freestyle swimming: application of kernel density estimation
Craig A Staunton1, Jesús J Ruiz-Navarro2, Dennis-Peter Born3,4
1Department of Environmental and Bioscience, School of Business, Innovation and Sustainability, Halmstad University, Halmstad, Sweden.
Elite swimmers use varied stroke strategies (stroke rate and stroke length) depending on race distance. Medallists optimize technique and conditioning to maintain high stroke rates without sacrificing stroke length for peak performance.
Area of Science:
- Sports Science
- Biomechanics
- Swimming Performance Analysis
Background:
- Understanding elite swimming performance requires detailed analysis of stroke mechanics.
- Stroke rate (SR) and stroke length (SL) are key parameters influencing swimming speed.
- Optimal SR-SL combinations may vary across different race distances and individual swimmers.
Purpose of the Study:
- To analyze stroke rate (SR) and stroke length (SL) combinations in elite freestyle swimmers.
- To understand how SR-SL strategies differ across various race distances (50m to 1500m).
- To identify biomechanical strategies employed by medallists compared to other competitors.
Main Methods:
- Video-based kinematic analysis of 324 elite swimmers at the 2019 European Short-Course Championships.
- Two-dimensional kernel density estimation (2D KDE) to visualize SR-SL relationships.
- Spearman correlations to quantify the relationship between stroke parameters and speed, stratified by sex and race distance.
Main Results:
- In sprints (50m), stroke length (SL) correlated most strongly with speed; stroke rate (SR) had trivial correlations.
- As race distance increased, SR's correlation with speed strengthened, while SL's correlation weakened.
- Medallists often displayed distinct SR-SL strategies, with sprinters favoring high SR without compromising SL, and distance swimmers showing a trend towards higher SR and reduced SL.
Conclusions:
- Elite swimmers exhibit complex and individualized stroke mechanics.
- Superior conditioning and technique allow medallists to sustain higher stroke rates without sacrificing stroke length.
- 2D KDE offers an effective method for visualizing and understanding nuanced biomechanical strategies in swimming for coaching insights.
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