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Changes in breaststroke swimming performances in national and international athletes competing between 1994 and 2011 –a comparison with freestyle swimming performances

BACKGROUND: The purpose of the present study was to analyse potential changes in performance of elite breaststroke swimmers competing at national and international level and to compare to elite freestyle swimming performance. METHODS: Temporal trends in performance of elite breaststroke swimmers wer...

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Autores principales: Wolfrum, Mathias, Rüst, Christoph Alexander, Rosemann, Thomas, Lepers, Romuald, Knechtle, Beat
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: BioMed Central 2014
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4018624/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24826211
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/2052-1847-6-18
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author Wolfrum, Mathias
Rüst, Christoph Alexander
Rosemann, Thomas
Lepers, Romuald
Knechtle, Beat
author_facet Wolfrum, Mathias
Rüst, Christoph Alexander
Rosemann, Thomas
Lepers, Romuald
Knechtle, Beat
author_sort Wolfrum, Mathias
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: The purpose of the present study was to analyse potential changes in performance of elite breaststroke swimmers competing at national and international level and to compare to elite freestyle swimming performance. METHODS: Temporal trends in performance of elite breaststroke swimmers were analysed from records of the Swiss Swimming Federation and the FINA (Fédération Internationale de Natation) World Swimming Championships during the 1994–2011 period. Swimming speeds of elite female and male breaststroke swimmers competing in 50 m, 100 m, and 200 m were examined using linear regression, non-linear regression and analysis of variance. Results of breaststroke swimmers were compared to results of freestyle swimmers. RESULTS: Swimming speed in both strokes improved significantly (p < 0.0001-0.025) over time for both sexes, with the exception of 50 m breaststroke for FINA men. Sex differences in swimming speed increased significantly over time for Swiss freestyle swimmers (p < 0.0001), but not for FINA swimmers for freestyle, while the sex difference remained stable for Swiss and FINA breaststroke swimmers. The sex differences in swimming speed decreased significantly (p < 0.0001) with increasing race distance. CONCLUSIONS: The present study showed that elite male and female swimmers competing during the 1994–2011 period at national and international level improved their swimming speed in both breaststroke and freestyle. The sex difference in freestyle swimming speed consistently increased in athletes competing at national level, whereas it remained unchanged in athletes competing at international level. Future studies should investigate temporal trends for recent time in other strokes, to determine whether this improvement is a generalized phenomenon.
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spelling pubmed-40186242014-05-14 Changes in breaststroke swimming performances in national and international athletes competing between 1994 and 2011 –a comparison with freestyle swimming performances Wolfrum, Mathias Rüst, Christoph Alexander Rosemann, Thomas Lepers, Romuald Knechtle, Beat BMC Sports Sci Med Rehabil Research Article BACKGROUND: The purpose of the present study was to analyse potential changes in performance of elite breaststroke swimmers competing at national and international level and to compare to elite freestyle swimming performance. METHODS: Temporal trends in performance of elite breaststroke swimmers were analysed from records of the Swiss Swimming Federation and the FINA (Fédération Internationale de Natation) World Swimming Championships during the 1994–2011 period. Swimming speeds of elite female and male breaststroke swimmers competing in 50 m, 100 m, and 200 m were examined using linear regression, non-linear regression and analysis of variance. Results of breaststroke swimmers were compared to results of freestyle swimmers. RESULTS: Swimming speed in both strokes improved significantly (p < 0.0001-0.025) over time for both sexes, with the exception of 50 m breaststroke for FINA men. Sex differences in swimming speed increased significantly over time for Swiss freestyle swimmers (p < 0.0001), but not for FINA swimmers for freestyle, while the sex difference remained stable for Swiss and FINA breaststroke swimmers. The sex differences in swimming speed decreased significantly (p < 0.0001) with increasing race distance. CONCLUSIONS: The present study showed that elite male and female swimmers competing during the 1994–2011 period at national and international level improved their swimming speed in both breaststroke and freestyle. The sex difference in freestyle swimming speed consistently increased in athletes competing at national level, whereas it remained unchanged in athletes competing at international level. Future studies should investigate temporal trends for recent time in other strokes, to determine whether this improvement is a generalized phenomenon. BioMed Central 2014-05-09 /pmc/articles/PMC4018624/ /pubmed/24826211 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/2052-1847-6-18 Text en Copyright © 2014 Wolfrum et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0 This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Wolfrum, Mathias
Rüst, Christoph Alexander
Rosemann, Thomas
Lepers, Romuald
Knechtle, Beat
Changes in breaststroke swimming performances in national and international athletes competing between 1994 and 2011 –a comparison with freestyle swimming performances
title Changes in breaststroke swimming performances in national and international athletes competing between 1994 and 2011 –a comparison with freestyle swimming performances
title_full Changes in breaststroke swimming performances in national and international athletes competing between 1994 and 2011 –a comparison with freestyle swimming performances
title_fullStr Changes in breaststroke swimming performances in national and international athletes competing between 1994 and 2011 –a comparison with freestyle swimming performances
title_full_unstemmed Changes in breaststroke swimming performances in national and international athletes competing between 1994 and 2011 –a comparison with freestyle swimming performances
title_short Changes in breaststroke swimming performances in national and international athletes competing between 1994 and 2011 –a comparison with freestyle swimming performances
title_sort changes in breaststroke swimming performances in national and international athletes competing between 1994 and 2011 –a comparison with freestyle swimming performances
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4018624/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24826211
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/2052-1847-6-18
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