Tasa de brazada y gestión de la coordinación de brazos en natación en un doble campeón paralímpico de triatlón

The 2024 Paris Paralympic triathlon required swimming with and against the current which requested to adapt stroke mechanics. To understand how a Paralympic triathlete champion might adapt his stroke mechanics under varying current conditions, this study aimed to 1) determine the range and optimal stroke rate (SR) and index of coordination (IdC); 2) examine the flexibility of SR, IdC and associated total energy expenditure. The para triathlete performed two front crawl tests: 10 times 25m incremented in swimming speed (S), from which S-SR and S-IdC relationships have been modelled to detect two regimes of functioning and the most effective SR; then, 6 times 50 m at the speed of the 800 m freestyle using 6 different SR conditions: spontaneous SR (SR_s), SR_s imposed by tempo trainer, SR_s+3, SR_s+6, SR_s-3 and SR_s-6 cycles. Total energy expenditure was computed from post-exercise oxygen uptake and blood lactate measurements. In test 1, the highest effective SR equals 44 cycle.min^-1, which corresponds to the preferred SR in 800 m freestyle competition. In test 2, the para triathlete struggled to perform the high SR conditions, which was associated to higher total energy expenditure; conversely, the para triathlete naturally decreased SR. It is advised to modulate SR around the preferred SR to optimise efficiency under varying current conditions.