Competitions
There are eight common competitions that are swam in freestyle swimming, both over either a long course (50 m pool) or a short course (25 m pool). The United States also employs short course yards (25 yard pool).
- 50 m freestyle
- 100 m freestyle
- 200 m freestyle
- 400 m freestyle (500 yards for short course yards)
- 800 m freestyle (1000 yards for short course yards)
- 1500 m freestyle (1650 yards for short course yards)
- 4×50 m freestyle relay
- 4×100 m freestyle relay
- 4×200 m freestyle relay
Young swimmers (typically 8 years old and younger) have the option to swim a 25 yard/meter freestyle event.
Freestyle is also part of the medley over the following distances:
- 100 m individual medley (short 25 m pool only)
- 200 m individual medley
- 400 m individual medley
- 4×100 m medley relay
In the long distance races of 800 m and 1500 m, some meets hosted by FINA (including the Olympics) only have the 800 m distance for women and the 1500 m distance for men. However, FINA does keep records in the 1500 meter distance for women and the 800 meter distance for men, and the FINA World Championships, as well as many other meets, have both distances for both genders.
Read more about this topic: Freestyle Swimming