The Fastest Female Butterflyswimmers Were Younger Than the Fastest Male Butterfly Swimmers

Abstract

Beat (2014). The fastest female butterflyswimmers were younger than the fastest male butterfly swimmers. Medicina Sportiva, 18(1):1-9. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5604/17342260.1094778 THE FASTEST FEMALE BUTTERFLY SWIMMERS WERE YOUNGER THAN THE FASTEST MALE BUTTERFLY SWIMMERS AbstractIntroduction: The age of peak freestyle swimming speed was reported to be at ~17 years for women and ~19 years for men. However, the age of peak swimming speed for other strokes such as butterfly is not known.Objectives: We investigated whether the age of peak swimming speed and peak swimming speed changed across years in elite butterfly and freestyle swimmers at national level (Switzerland) between 1994 and 2011.Methods: Changes in swimming speed and age of the annual ten fastest swimmers across years were investigated using linear regression analyses and two-way analysis of variance (ANOVA).Results: For both butterfly and freestyle, the age of peak swimming speed was ~19 years for women. For men, the age of peak swimming speed was at ~22 years over all distances with the exception in 200m freestyle with ~21 years. The age of peak swimming speed increased for women in 50m from ~19 years to ~21 years, in 100m and 200m butterfly from ~18 years to ~20 years while it remained unchanged in 50m, 100m and 200m freestyle at ~19, ~18 and ~20 years, respectively. For men, the age of peak swimming speed was constant for butterfly at ~24, ~23 and ~21 years, respectively, and for freestyle at ~23 years in 100m and ~22 years in 200m across years with the exception of a decrease in 50m freestyle from ~23 years (1994) to ~22 years (2011). Both women and men increased peak swimming speed over all distances. Sex difference in peak swimming speed increased in butterfly from 10% in 1994 to 12% in 2011 in 50m to 200m and in freestyle in 100m from 12% in 1994 to 14% in 2011 while it remained unchanged in 50m and 200m freestyle at 12% and 10%, respectively.Conclusion: To summarize, in butterfly swimming, women seemed to achieve peak swimming speed at ~19 years and men at ~21-22 years. For practical applications, a career as butterfly swimmer may endure longer in men compared to women.

Change of the age and performance of swimmers across World Championships and Olympic Games finals from 1992 to 2013 – a cross-sectional data analysis

“…The age of the finalists increased for all strokes and distances with the exception of 200 m backstroke in women, 400 m freestyle in men and 200 m breaststroke in men in the World Championships and 800 m freestyle in women and 400 m individual medley in men in the Olympic Games where the age of the finalists decreased. This finding disagrees with our hypothesis on the basis of a few studies in the field investigating changes in the age of peak performance across years in swimmers competing at different levels (Schulz and Curnow 1988 ; Rüst et al 2012 ; Kollarz et al 2013b ; Zingg et al 2014c ).…”

“…Swimming performance improved for all distances and strokes in both the World Championships and the Olympic Games. This finding fully agrees with our hypothesis based on studies about the progression of swimming performance in different strokes and distances (Schulz and Curnow 1988 ; Buhl et al 2013a ; Koch-Ziegenbein et al 2013 ; Kollarz et al 2013b ; Zingg et al 2014c ). Thus, a further increase in swimming performance would be expected.…”

“…A common trend for these events and races is that they are all 200 m in length and longer. In a number of studies it was reported for a few races that there was a change in the age of peak swimming performance across the years (Rüst et al 2012 ; Kollarz et al 2013b ; Zingg et al 2014c ). Generally, the age of the finalists increased with the exception for swimmers competing at national level that the age of peak swimming performance decreased for women and increased for men in 50 m freestyle from 2006 to 2010 (Rüst et al 2012 ).…”

“…For backstroke, Kollarz et al ( 2013b ) showed that the age of peak swimming performance increased in 50 m backstroke for women from ~16 to ~22 years and in 50 m freestyle for men from ~22 to ~23 years in swimmers competing at national level from 1994 to 2011. Furthermore, Zingg et al ( 2014c ) reported that the age of peak swimming performance for athletes competing at national level between 1994 and 2011 increased for women in 50 m butterfly from ~19 to ~21 years, in 100 m and 200 m butterfly from ~18 to ~20 years, while it was stable in all race lengths of butterfly for men. These studies confirm our observation that there is a trend of an increase in the age of peak swimming performance over time.…”

“…Concerning the level of the investigated athletes, several studies examined the age of peak swimming performance in swimmers competing at national level and for specific swimming strokes such as freestyle (Tanaka and Seals 1997 ; Wolfrum et al 2013 ; Buhl et al 2013b ; Donato et al 2003 ; Rüst et al 2014 ), breaststroke (Koch-Ziegenbein et al 2013 ; Wolfrum et al 2013 ), backstroke (Kollarz et al 2013a , [ b ]), butterfly (Zingg et al 2014b , [ c ]), and individual medley (Buhl et al 2013b ; Vaso et al 2013 ). However, the information about the age of peak swimming performance with its change is missing for swimmers competing at world class level.…”