Can someone who knows about sprinting explain to me why some of the 100 free swimmers in the mens ncaa meet tonight had nose plugs (clips?) on? It didn’t look like the clips were preventing them from breathing out of their noses entirely, but I’m still confused.
love,
miler
Can someone who knows about sprinting explain to me why some of the 100 free swimmers in the mens ncaa meet tonight had nose plugs (clips?) on? It didn’t look like the clips were preventing them from breathing out of their noses entirely, but I’m still confused.
love,
miler
Total guesses here:
Human noses are hydrodynamically inefficient. Nose plugs make them narrower and thus slice through the water better.
There is more splashing in 100m free events than >200m events and they’re trying to prevent the intake of water into the nose during their few rapid breath strokes.
Can someone who knows about sprinting explain to me why some of the 100 free swimmers in the mens ncaa meet tonight had nose plugs (clips?) on? It didn’t look like the clips were preventing them from breathing out of their noses entirely, but I’m still confused.
love,
miler
They’ve been doing it in backstroke to keep air in the lungs during dolphin kicks, since a little bit always dribbles out doing face-up underwater kicks. I can imagine it’s helpful on the flip turns in freestyle as well, no need for the little blast to stop water going up your nose, more air in your lungs off the wall.
In reality it’s probably one popular/fast swimmer did it and everybody else jumped on the bandwagon.
Can someone who knows about sprinting explain to me why some of the 100 free swimmers in the mens ncaa meet tonight had nose plugs (clips?) on? It didn’t look like the clips were preventing them from breathing out of their noses entirely, but I’m still confused.
love,
miler
Some elite swimmers choose to wear them because it allows them to stop water going up their noses and can help them to have a more effective underwater phase.
huh, thanks
.
A swimmer with more air in their lungs floats higher in the water, maybe it’s also to “remember” to not empty the lungs too early under water before the breath, like they might do in easy practice and also to have more oxygen in their system after the turns.
Could also be because more and more swimmers start the dolphin kicking in freestyle on the back/side out of the turns.
assuming you’re talking about Brooks Curry, he actually pushes off on his back (which is correct technique!). Wearing the nose plugs means he can hold his breath rather than force air out his nose to prevent water from going in-- so he has more oxygen to use for his underwater kick.
here’s the race video. slow mo of the 50 turn at around 1:43 with Curry in the foreground.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LX276XDCTX8
thanks. Yeah Curry was one of them, I think I saw a couple.
next dumb question: is everyone pushing off on their backs, even in distance races, at that level? goodness now I feel like I don’t even swim, I don’t push off on my back on my turns…
this is terrific, now I can wear nose clips without the shame of feeling like ‘not a real swimmer’ 
at the DIII swimming I’ve watched the last few years, the shorter distances were mostly pushing off on their backs. I keep trying to retrain myself to do this, once tired tend to revert to the old ways though.
Can someone who knows about sprinting explain to me why some of the 100 free swimmers in the mens ncaa meet tonight had nose plugs (clips?) on? It didn’t look like the clips were preventing them from breathing out of their noses entirely, but I’m still confused.
love,
miler
The vast majority of these swimmers are backstrokers aiming to prevent air from ‘leaking’ out of their noses. It makes it a lot easier to maintain their underwater dolphin kickers when they can hold their air. This happens on the back a lot more than the stomach. For whatever reason, some backstrokers can prevent their air from leaking without any assistance. Others will basically smoosh their lips into their nostrils to prevent air from leaking. Most don’t fall into either of these categories, so they wear nose clips. The majority of backstrokers I’ve coached have worn them, especially in recent years.
As you’re asking about freestylers, I’m not convinced there is much of a benefit for those that are not swimming backstroke unless they are doing extended underwater dolphin kicking on their back during freestyle, which is VERY rare. Of course, if someone thinks it helps, I don’t think it can really hurt.
The kids I coach that swim back and free, will take their clip on and off depending on the stroke they’re swimming.
Hope that helps.
thanks. Yeah Curry was one of them, I think I saw a couple.
next dumb question: is everyone pushing off on their backs, even in distance races, at that level? goodness now I feel like I don’t even swim, I don’t push off on my back on my turns…
The vast majority of swimmers that are not pushing off on their backs. They are pushing off on their side to various degrees, and they are transitioning to their stomach quickly. Unless you plan on taking an extended number of dolphin kicks, you are wasting a lot of time by trying to stay on your back. They may SAY that’s what they’re doing, but if you watch it underwater, it’s not what’s happening.
There have been 1-2 swimmers than have been successful staying on their back, dolphin kicking, and then transitioning to your stomach. There was some controversy about Ryan Locate doing this several years ago during IM races.
thanks. Yeah Curry was one of them, I think I saw a couple.
next dumb question: is everyone pushing off on their backs, even in distance races, at that level? goodness now I feel like I don’t even swim, I don’t push off on my back on my turns…
The vast majority of swimmers that are not pushing off on their backs. They are pushing off on their side to various degrees, and they are transitioning to their stomach quickly. Unless you plan on taking an extended number of dolphin kicks, you are wasting a lot of time by trying to stay on your back. They may SAY that’s what they’re doing, but if you watch it underwater, it’s not what’s happening.
since I push off on my side, I am happy to hear that
You should be pushing off the wall on your back at any level. Turning over while kicking through the water is “free”. the extra turning while on the wall flipping adds time. But truthfully, when you flip, you’re naturally on your back afterwards. So you just push off. I honestly can’t remember ever trying to turn over while on the wall since I started swimming at age 6.
You should be pushing off the wall on your back at any level. Turning over while kicking through the water is “free”. the extra turning while on the wall flipping adds time. But truthfully, when you flip, you’re naturally on your back afterwards. So you just push off. I honestly can’t remember ever trying to turn over while on the wall since I started swimming at age 6.
At the highest level of the sport, it doesn’t happen. They don’t literally turn on over on the wall, but people are either rotating as the flip to some degree, or they are rotating as they are extending the legs to push off. In the latter case, a large amount of rotation occurs before the feet leave the wall, although the feet have not moved.