The young swimmer Daichi Suzuki performed his own special underwater phase after the start and turn in the 100 m backstroke at the Los Angeles Olympics in 1984.
More specifically, the young swimmer made 6 butterfly leg kicks before emerging with a slight advantage over his rivals, who were all stronger and more experienced swimmers than him.
A number of swimmers then began their own secret training: for 4 years there was little talk about the ‘sub’ phase, but certain athletes were working really hard on it.
The backstroke event at the 1988 Olympics in Seoul was watched standing up, not sitting down. The crowds revelled in the swimmers’ long underwater phases that resulted in world records falling in both the shorter and longer race.
Back then there was no time or distance limit on the ‘sub’ phase and less and less time was being spent above the water during races, so after all kinds of records being broken, it was decided to set a limit of 15 m for the underwater phase.
Nowadays, if performed properly, this can be the fastest part of the race after the dive, so let’s see how we can improve it effectively through careful training drills.
Let’s take a look at the technique:
- During the first phase of pushing the wall, bury your head…
