Study of talented young male swimmers - scientific approach to the kinematic and physiological predictors of 400-m front crawl race.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to assess the influence of physiological and kinematic predictors on 400-m front crawl race in young male swimmers and to consider the interrelation between them.

Methods: Nineteen male swimmers took part in this study (age: 13.5 ± 0.44 years, height: 168.6 ± 7.77 cm, body mass: 56.9 ± 10.57 kg). Measurements of physiological parameters were conducted using expired air analyzer (Start 2000 MES, Poland) during step-test in water flume. Kinematic indices were computed while analyzing video recording of 400-m front crawl race. To check for possible influence of biological age (BA) diversity in studied group, partial correlation with age control was computed.

Results: Swimming to exhaustion in water flume defined as speed at maximum oxygen uptake and anaerobic threshold ( VVO2 max and VAT) occurred to be strongly positively correlated with 400-m race speed. Speed in surface swimming zones (Vsurface) was related to ability of kinematics adjustment and significantly correlated with stroke index (SI). Vsurface at the beginning and the end of the race, i.e., at 1st, 7th and 8th lap interplayed with stroke rate (SR) measured at corresponding laps.

Conclusions: Our study showed that 400-m front crawl performance of young male swimmers is strongly dependent on swimming efficiency developed with aerobic conditioning. Significant role of proper pacing strategy was also identified, which indicates that race pace training should be implemented.