There are so many strokes and distances in the pool that it can sometimes become overwhelming trying to keep track, but the 50 metre freestyle is basically the athletics 100 metre sprint of the swimming world.

Every split second counts, that is obvious, which is why this new issue is sending shockwaves through the Olympic community.

That question is around whether a current favours certain swimmers, and here’s the Wall Street Journal to unpack that:

Three scientists who previously published peer-reviewed work showing that a current influenced 50-meter [sic] races at the 2013 world championships say that the same problem appears to have existed in the Olympic pool in Rio… [they] say that Olympic results this month suggest that a current boosted 50-meter competitors in the higher-numbered lanes of the eight-lane pool.

As evidence, they note that of the eight men and eight women who swam fast enough during the 50-meter semifinals to qualify for the final, all but one swam in lanes 4 through 8. Moreover, athletes who swam in lanes 5 through 8 during preliminaries or semifinals and moved to lanes 1 through 4 for later heats got slower. They posted times about a half percent slower in the subsequent round—even though pace tends to quicken as events progress…

“It’s a big deal. This is horrific,” said Stager, whose co-researchers were Chris Brammer, a doctoral candidate in exercise physiology at Indiana University, and Eastern Michigan University professor Andrew Cornett.

Officials at FINA, swimming’s world governing body, said they were reviewing the analysis.

The longer the distance the more negligible the advantage, but in a speed shootout like the 50 metre freestyle it is indeed horrific.

That’s not to say they aren’t affected at all, however:

In Rio, the lane bias also showed up in the 800-meter and 1,500-meter races, the other events analyzed by the researchers. Swimmers in lanes 1 through 3 swam as much as .6 seconds slower while heading toward the starting blocks than they swam while moving away from them, according to an analysis of split times by Brammer.

Swimmers in lanes 6 through 8 showed the reverse, logging faster times while moving toward the starting blocks than they did away from them, according to Brammer. The closer swimmers were to lanes 1 and 8, the outer lanes of the pool, the greater the effects on times, he said.

This finding does point to a real problem, and it’s something that FINA and the International Olympic Committee are going to have to pay close attention to.

Can we all just agree to put Ryan Lochte in the slowest lane, please?

[source:wsj]