Codified swimming: the crawl
7.0 How to swim the crawl
In competition, the crawl does not exist as such. During races, there is no such thing as a 50m crawl, 100m crawl, etc.. The crawl is covered in the 'free swim' races, which range goes from the 50 to the 1500 freestyle. The crawl is generally done in these races. But if the swimmer wants to do another stroke, he or she has every right to do so, as this is «free swimming». Of course, within the limits of the officially existing strokes
7.1 The rules of the International Swimming Federation (F.I.N.A.)
In competition, here is how a crawl stroke (called Free Swimming) must be performed:
Touch the wall on the turn
The swimmer's head must come up to the surface of the water no more than 15 m from the start or the turn
The swimmer must not immerse completely during the swim (except for the first 15 m at the start and at the turns).
The swimmer must not walk or push on the bottom of the pool
In a 4-swimming event, the swimmer must not swim backstroke, breaststroke or butterfly during the free-stroke section
7.2 Motor patterns
The crawl kicks are regular but at a rather low rhythm, they serve to keep the pelvis stationary but they don't have any propulsive action that would add to the arms. If you do a lot of legwork without going very fast, you'll quickly run out of breath
The strokes accelerate when you increase your swimming speed. This is not because they propel you, but mainly because they allow you to sheath your body to the pool to a much greater extent, and therefore improve the transmission of your back muscles to your arms.
