Swimming is a full-body exercise or anaerobic exercise and probably the best exercise for the full body. Being a water sport it cleanses the body and mind and relaxes the mind. So, swimming has a lot of health benefits apart from being a sport. Thus, many people take up swimming as their career and often participate in the various competitions including the world championships. First in the series comes the state level, which is followed by the national level and world or international level of swimming.
Swimming World Records has been an immense center of attraction and both male and female participate in the international championship. Male and female can participate in the International level of swimming but in different groups. For example, men will have a men’s international championship in swimming while the female will have a female’s international level of swimming.
FINA or the Fédération Internationale de Natation arranges for the swimming championships, which are recognized by the International Olympic Committee for administering international competition in all types of water sports. There are various types of swimming championships, which will be listed down in the next segment.
Types of Swimming carried out in the Swimming World Records
The swimming championships consist of various styles of swimming at various distances. Here are all the details of the distance and the styles of swimming performed t the international level of championships for both male and female.
Freestyle – The freestyle form of the swimming is also called the front crawl is defined as the fastest swimming style amongst all the other forms of swimming practiced. The distance marks of the freestyle in the Swimming World Records are 50 meters, 100 meters, 200 meters, 400 meters, 800 meters and 1500 meters.
Back Stroke – The Backstroke swimming style is very common in all the swimming championships that are carried out by FINA. It is the only style of swimming that is swum in the backward direction. It creates a little bit of a problem for the swimmers as they cannot see where they are going. At the same time, it helps in easy breathing as the swimmers swim upside down on their back. Only three distance swimming is available in the backstroke style of swimming in the Swimming World Records which are 50 meters, 100 meters, and 200 meters.
1. Breast Stroke – The breaststroke style of swimming has been just the opposite of the backstroke swimming where the swimmers swim on their chest and do not rotate the torso. In this type of swimming the head of the swimmers remains upright out of the water that helps the swimmers to swim for a longer period with slow motion. This stroke is also termed as the ‘frog stroke’. Only three distance swimming is available in the breaststroke style of swimming in the Swimming World Records as well, which is 50 meters, 100 meters, and 200 meters.
3. Butterfly Stroke – The butterfly stroke style of swimming is also done on the chest, but the head remains half out of the water and the hands are spread moving symmetrically on both the sides as the body moves forward. Only three distance swimming is available in the butterfly stroke style of swimming in the Swimming World Records which are 50 meters, 100 meters, and 200 meters.
4. Individual Medley – Individual medley is the comparatively toughest style of swimming as it is a combination of four different types of swimming style viz., butterfly stroke, backstroke, breaststroke and freestyle which only one swimmer has to perform within one race for equal distances. It consists of 100 m of short course only, 200 m and 400 meters.
5. Relays and Mixed Relays – The relay-style of swimming consists of a 4×50m freestyle relay (short course only), 4×100m freestyle, 4×200m freestyle, 4×50m medley relay (short course only), 4×100m medley whereas the mixed relay style of swimming consists of 4×50m mixed freestyle (short course only), 4×100m mixed freestyle(long course only), 4×50m mixed medley (short course only), 4×100m mixed medley(long course only) in the Swimming World Records.
Swimming World Records Winners
Here are the winners and the best swimmers from around the world of the Swimming World Records. César Cielo from Brazil won the 50m and 100m freestyle in 2009, Kliment Kolesnikov of Russia won the 50 m backstroke while Ryan Murphy and Aaron Peirsol won the 100 m and 200 m backstrokes respectively in the year 2009.
The 50m and the 100 m breaststroke were won by Adam Piety of Great Britain in 2009 and 2017 respectively. Sarah Sjöström from Sweden won the 50m and 100m butterfly style in the Swimming World Records of 2014 and 2016 respectively. Katinka Hosszú from Hungary won the 200 meters and 400 meters of an individual medley in 2015 and 2016 respectively.
WORLD RECORDS:
- Men’s 100 Breaststroke: Adam Peaty (GBR), 56.88 (SF)
- Men’s 200 Breaststroke: Anton Chupkov (RUS), 2:06.12
- Men’s 100 Butterfly: Caeleb Dressel (USA), 49.50 (SF)
- Men’s 200 Butterfly: Kristof Milak (HUN), 1:50.73
- Women’s 100 Backstroke: Regan Smith (USA), 57.57 (r)
- Women’s 200 Backstroke: Regan Smith (USA), 2:03.35 (SF)
- Women’s 4×200 Freestyle Relay: Australia (Titmus, Wilson, Throssell, McKeon), 7:41.50
- Women’s 4×100 Medley Relay: United States (R.Smith, King, Dahlia, Manuel), 3:50.40
- Mixed 4×100 Freestyle Relay: United States (Dressel, Apple, Comerford, Manuel), 3:19.40
Best Male Swimmers of the world winning the Swimming World Records
In this section we are going to list out the best male swimmers of the world who won the Swimming World Records:
- Michael Phelps
- Caeleb Dressel
- Grant Hackett
- Adam Peaty
- Sun Yang
- Joseph Schooling
- Ian Thorpe
- Ryan Lochte
- Aaron peirsol
- Don Schollander
- Gary Hall Jr.
- Nathan Adrian
- Alexander Popov
- Matt Biondi
- Mark Spittz
- Tamas Darnyi
- Kosuke Kitajima
Best Female Swimmers of the World winning the Swimming World Records
Also, providing the best female swimmers who have won the Swimming World Records is listed out below:
- Sarah Sjostrom
- Cate Campbell
- Missy Franklin
- Ranomi Kromowidjojo
- Simone Manuel
- Laure Manaudou
- Kathleen Baker
- Lily King
- Kattinka Hosszu
- Stephanie Rice
There are many more female renowned female swimmers. Swimming World Records has opened gates for all the swimmers and the aspiring swimmers to take part in the international level of swimming. The next Swimming World Records is the much-awaited event.
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