McGibbon Katie E, Shephard Megan E, Osborne Mark A, Thompson Kevin G, Pyne David B
Int J Sports Physiol Perform. 2020 Apr 13;15(8):1059-1066. doi: 10.1123/ijspp.2019-0381. Print 2020 Sep 1.
Although pacing is considered crucial for success in individual swimming events, there is a lack of research examining pacing in relays. The authors investigated the impact of start lap and pacing strategy on swimming performance and whether these strategies differ between relays and the corresponding individual event.
Race data for 716 relay (4 × 200-m freestyle) finals from 14 international competitions between 2010 and 2018 were analyzed retrospectively. Each swimmer's individual 200-m freestyle season's best time for the same year was used for comparison. Races were classified as a fast, average, or slow start lap strategy (lap 1) and as an even, negative, or positive pacing strategy (laps 2-4) to give an overall race strategy, for example, average start lap even pacing.
A fast start lap strategy was associated with slower 200-m times (range 0.5-0.9 s, P ≤ .04) irrespective of gender, and positive pacing led to slower 200-m (0.4-0.5 s, P ≤ .03) times in females. A fast start lap strategy led to positive pacing in 71% of swimmers. Half of the swimmers changed pacing strategy, with 13% and 7% more female and male swimmers, respectively, displaying positive pacing in relays compared with individual events. In relays, a fast start lap and positive pacing was utilized more frequently by swimmers positioned on second to fourth relay legs (+13%) compared with lead-off leg swimmers (+3%).
To maximize performance, swimmers should be more conservative in the first lap and avoid unnecessary alterations in race strategy in relay events.
尽管节奏控制被认为是个人游泳项目取得成功的关键因素，但缺乏对接力赛中节奏控制的研究。作者调查了出发圈和节奏控制策略对游泳成绩的影响，以及这些策略在接力赛和相应个人项目之间是否存在差异。
回顾性分析了2010年至2018年期间14项国际比赛中716场接力赛（4×200米自由泳）决赛的比赛数据。将每位游泳运动员同年的个人200米自由泳赛季最佳成绩用于比较。比赛被分为快速、平均或慢速出发圈策略（第1圈）以及均匀、负或正节奏策略（第2 - 4圈），以得出总体比赛策略，例如，平均出发圈均匀节奏。
无论性别如何，快速出发圈策略都与较慢的200米成绩相关（范围为0.5 - 0.9秒，P≤0.04），而正节奏在女性中导致较慢的200米成绩（0.4 - 0.5秒，P≤0.03）。快速出发圈策略导致71%的游泳运动员采用正节奏。一半的游泳运动员改变了节奏策略，与个人项目相比，在接力赛中分别有13%和7%的女性和男性游泳运动员采用正节奏。在接力赛中，位于第二至第四棒的游泳运动员（+13%）比第一棒游泳运动员（+3%）更频繁地采用快速出发圈和正节奏。
为了使成绩最大化，游泳运动员在第一圈应更加保守，并避免在接力赛中不必要地改变比赛策略。
