Differences in swimming speed between short and long course from 50 m to 1,500 m in elite female and male swiss freestyle age group swimmers

This study intended (i) to compare the differences in swimming speed between short course and long course and (ii) to investigate differences in swimming speed between age groups in freestyle swimmers competing at national level (Switzerland). Age and swimming speed of 45,888 athletes (22,216 women and 23,672 men) on short course and 46,308 athletes (22,257 women and 24,051 men) on long course competing between 2000 and 2011 were analysed using linear regression analyses and analyses of variance (ANOVA). Swimming speed was faster on short course compared to long course on all distances for both women and men (P 0.05). For the distances of 50 m, 100 m, 200 m, 400 m, 800 m and 1,500 m, men completed short course faster by 2.25%, 2.97%, 1.62%, 2.34%, 1.86% and 1.89%, respectively (P < 0.05). For women, the differences between the courses were 3.16%, 2.27%, 2.45%, 1.90%, 2.56% and 5.84%, respectively (P