How Swimmers Use Turns to Win Races

Watch a high school championship, a college conference meet or a national trial, and you will notice something about close races. The lead often changes hands not in the middle of the pool but at the walls. A swimmer who looked level at the flags can surface a body length ahead after the turn.

Turns are one of the few places in swimming where an athlete can gain speed without adding stroke power. In a short course pool, where swimmers turn every 25 yards, they make up a large share of every race. Great swimmers treat each wall as a chance to attack rather than a moment to rest.

The Approach Sets Up Everything

A good turn begins several strokes before the wall. Swimmers use the flags hanging over the lanes and the line marked on the pool floor to judge their distance. The goal is to arrive at the wall without gliding in or chopping strokes to adjust at the last second.

Coaches often say the worst thing a swimmer can do is slow down on the approach. Holding speed into the wall carries momentum through the turn and into the push off. Athletes practice their approach until the stroke count from the flags becomes automatic.

Flip Turns and Open Turns

Freestyle and backstroke swimmers use flip turns. They tuck into a tight somersault, plant their feet on the wall and push off. A compact tuck rotates faster, and keeping the head in line with the body helps the swimmer come out of the turn straight.

In backstroke, swimmers are allowed to roll onto their stomach for a single arm pull before the flip, which lets them time the wall without looking. Getting that timing right is a skill of its own, since swimmers must push off on their back.

Breaststroke and butterfly swimmers use open turns because the rules require them to touch the wall with both hands at the same time. After the touch, they drop one shoulder, bring their knees in and spin quickly before pushing off. The fastest open turns spend very little time at the wall.

The Push Off and Streamline

Once the feet are planted, the push off is where much of the speed is created. Swimmers drive off the wall with their bodies stretched into a tight streamline, arms squeezed over the ears and hands stacked. Any gap or bent elbow creates drag that bleeds away speed.

The push off is often the fastest a swimmer will travel during the race. Holding that streamline for an extra moment before starting to kick can preserve that speed and make every stroke after it easier.

Underwater Kicking

In freestyle, backstroke and butterfly, swimmers may stay underwater for up to 15 meters after each turn before their head must break the surface. Many elite swimmers use powerful dolphin kicks during that phase, because a strong underwater kick can be faster than swimming on the surface.

Breaststroke has its own pullout. After the push off, swimmers are allowed one long arm pull, a single dolphin kick and one breaststroke kick before surfacing. Timing each part smoothly is a constant focus in practice.

The Breakout and First Strokes

Surfacing well matters as much as the underwater phase. A good breakout keeps the swimmer moving forward instead of popping straight up. Many swimmers take their first stroke just before the head breaks the surface and avoid breathing on that first stroke to hold momentum.

Coaches watch this transition closely. A swimmer who stalls at the breakout can waste the speed gained from a great turn and underwater kick.

How Coaches Train Turns

Because turns happen on every length, they are trained on every length. Many coaches insist that swimmers turn at race speed in practice instead of touching and resting at the wall. Over thousands of repetitions, that habit carries into meets.

Teams also use focused drills such as turn sets from the flags, streamline holds and underwater kick sets, along with video review from the deck. The details are small, but in a sport timed to hundredths of a second, small details decide races.

Watch the Walls Next Meet

The next time you watch a swim meet, look past the middle of the pool and keep your eyes on the walls. You will see where races are really decided. For more on the skills behind great performances across American sports, keep reading Legend Magazine.