Influence Of Morphology And Strength On Front Crawl Swimming Speed In Junior And Youth Age Group Swimmers.

This study, conducted in 2 male age groups, was aimed at analyzing the influence of body properties, dry-land strength and swimming strength on 50-m crawl (V-Crawl). We examined 2 competitive groups, Youth (20.6 +/- 1.05) and Junior (17.3 +/- 0.59), based on (a) body mass (BM) and lean body mass (LBM), body height (BH) and total body length (TBL), and arm span (AS); (b) countermovement jump (CMJ) and maximum isometric strength of elbow and knee joints; and (c) tethered crawl strength. We hypothesized that a higher relationship of strength indices in younger swimmers in V-Crawl and tethered swimming would be a better sprint performance predictor. The Junior group revealed a significant relationship between somatic traits (BM r = 0.63; BH r = 0.55; TBL r = 0.58; AS r = 0.52 with p <= 0.05 LBM r = 0.78; with p < 0.01) and V-Crawl, whereas such interplay was not found in the Youth group. General dry-land strength indices CMJ (cm), CMJ (J) or isometric strength of knee joint muscle flexors and extensors (r = 0.57; r = 0.69; r = 0.56; r = 0.57, respectively) also significantly correlated with VCrawl only in the Junior group. The Junior group's tethered swimming strength had a higher but not a significant relationship with V-Crawl. The Youth group instead achieved significantly higher V-Crawl and stroke rate (SR). The SR revealed (r = 0.41, p = 0.014) a relationship with V-Crawl only after the combination of both groups. This study demonstrates a better strength relationship with V-Crawl in the younger Junior group. In the future, the evaluation of sprint swimming aptitudes, besides on the basis of somatic traits and properties of dry-land or water strength measurement, should be complemented by measurements of real sprint swimming technique parameters.