Examining the Fastest Race in Swimming

Calvin Lutz

Background on the RaceShortest/fastest race in Swimming = 50

freestyle

Two courses Short Course Yards “SCY” (25 yards/length) Long Course Meters “LCM” (50 meters/length)

Most competitive meet in the world U.S. Olympic Trials

Most competitive “league” NCCA Division I

The Race3 easily identifiable components

Reaction TimeEvent TimeStart

Power Track Relay

Differences between starts?Can test for thisFriedman’s Test Procedure

n=20k=3

Hypothesis Testing

DataOhio State Invite SCY, November 2012

http://grfx.cstv.com/photos/schools/osu/sports/m-swim/auto_pdf/2012-13/misc_non_event/113012-finals.pdf

2012 Olympic Trials LCM (for 2nd part)http://www.omegatiming.com/Competition?id=

00010C0102FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF&sport=AQ&year=2012

Why a Nonparametric Setting?Blocking by swimmer

Could have large outliers, better to look at medians

Normality = NO

Friedman ResultsS = 19.90 DF = 2 P = 0.000

Rejection of Null Hypothesis

Follow up with Multiple Comparisons

Follow Up Multiple Comparison obs.dif critical.dif difference1-2 11 15.14086 FALSE1-3 17 15.14086 TRUE2-3 28 15.14086 TRUE

1 = Track Start2 = Power Start3 = Relay Start

Comparing with OT DataAgain, use nonparametric setting due to the

same reasons as DI.

A Bunch of RepetitionTest Associations of:

Reaction TimeEvent TimeAge

Test Procedure: KendallBased on signs

Hypothesis Testing

Reason for two-sided approach?

Reaction Time and Event TimeD1 Men

p-value = 0.7666Olympic Trials: Men

p-value = 0.6456Olympic Trials: Women

p-value = .6702

Age and TimeD1 Men*

p-value = .01278Olympic Trials: Men*

p-value = .00162Olympic Trials: Women**

p-value = .08727

*= significant at .05 level** = significant at .1 level

Reaction Time and AgeD1 Men

p-value = .6035Olympic Trials: Men

p-value = 0.3881Olympic Trials: Women**

p-value = .07806

**= significant at .1 level

Summary of Significant AssociationD1 Men

Age and Time

Olympic Trials MenAge and Time

Olympic Trials WomenAge and Time (.1 level)Reaction Time and Age (.1 level)

ConclusionSignificant negative association between Age

of a swimmer and their 50 freestyle timei.e. The older you are, the faster you are.

No other significant associations found involving reaction time.

Does the start matter?