Freestyle Swimming - Technique

Technique

Competitors in freestyle swimming can use any of the unregulated strokes such as front crawl, dog paddle, sidestroke, etc. Stand-alone freestyle events can also be swum using one of the officially regulated strokes (breaststroke, butterfly, and backstroke). For the freestyle part of medley competitions, however, one cannot use breaststroke, butterfly, or backstroke. Most competitive swimmers choose the Australian or front crawl during freestyle competitions, as this style provides the greatest speed. It is based on the Trudgen that was improved by Richard Cavill from Sydney, Australia. Cavill developed the stroke by observing a young boy from the Solomon Islands, Alick Wickham. Cavill and his brothers spread the Australian crawl to England, New Zealand and America. Richmond Cavill used this stroke in 1902 at an International Championships in England to set a new world record by swimming 100 yards (91 m) in 58.4 seconds. Freestyle competitions have also been swum completely and partially in other styles, especially at lower ranking competitions as some swimmers find their backstroke quicker than their front crawl. During the Olympic Games, front crawl is swum almost exclusively during freestyle. Some of the few rules are that swimmers must touch the end of the pool during each length and cannot push off the bottom or hang on the wall or pull on the lane lines during the course of the race. As with all competitive events, false starts are not allowed (the number of false starts depends upon the particular competitive rules for that competition).