Which start is faster in finswimming?

Abstract

Finswimming is a sport of speed practiced on the surface or underwater. The purpose of this study was to investigate the difference between two finswimming starts: the grab start (GS) and the research start with hands on metatarsals (HMS). Fourteen well training young male finswimmers participated in our study and assessment the flight, the angle of entry, the angle of knee and the performance at the first 15-m. The results show differences between the two starts in the flight [GS: 130.3±9.1 vs. HMS 136.2±7.9; t(13)=-6.08, p=0.000], in the angle of knee [GS: 107.1±8.9 vs. HMS 115.7±9.9; t(13)=-2.57, p=0.024], in the angle of entry [GS: 55.4±7.4 vs. HMS 52.6±5.2; t(13)=2.71, p=0.018] and at the first 15-m performance [GS: 5.7±0.5 vs. HMS 5.4±0.3; t(13)=4.17, p=0.001). This study demonstrates that the HMS is able to improve the parameters during entry which related with faster swimming.