J Strength Cond Res. 2011 Sep 29. [Epub ahead of print]
PMID: 21964430
Abstract
Forty-three world record swims were recorded at the 2009 Fédération Internationale de Natation (FINA) World Championship meet in Rome. Of the 20 FINA recognized long-course (50m pool) swimming events, men set new world records in 15 of those events while women did the same in 17 events. Each of the men's world records and 14 of the 17 women's records still stand. These performances were unprecedented; never before had this many world records been broken in such a short period of time. There was much speculation that full-body, polyurethane, technical swimsuits were the reason for the conspicuous improvement in world records. Further analysis led FINA to institute new rules on January 1, 2010, that limited the types of technical swimsuits that could be worn by athletes. No long-course world record has been broken since then. We sought to understand this phenomenon by analyzing publically available race data and exploring other possible causes including: improvements in other sports; improvements in training science; changes in rules and regulations; gender differences; anaerobic vs. aerobic events; unique talent; and membership data.- PMID:
- 21964430
- [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]
