Stefan Nystrand: Nearly sets a national record at the 'Amsterdam Swim Cup!'

Fan video of Stefan Nystrand's "windmill stroke" winning a 50-free final at the Amsterdam Swim Cup and almost setting a national record.

(Side note: In the 17th century Amsterdam was the both the economical and intellectual "center of universe." They had it all, science, art, publishing, and international shipping all because they allowed people to have an opinion without persecution. - ref: Carl Sagan - Cosmos)

Eamon Sullivan in Beijing: "...Fell into swimming's oldest trap."

I think Sullivan placed 6th in the 50-free at the Beijing Olympics because of the overwhelming talent in the pool not because he looked around to check out where Alain Bernard was.

The fact that every competitor in that final swam a :21 should validate the amount of ability and talent in the pool that day.

However, it does bring up many questions about how the swimmers swam their races in Beijing. Remember Katie Hoff, who didn't want to "break a nail" as Clay Evans noted to this blog; Milord Cavic, who looked up and lost by a 100th-of-a-second to Phelps in the 200 'fly 100-meter 'fly; and even Jason Lezak who looked over at the end of the 4x100 relay at Bernard?

From The Age.com:

Let's get this straight: Sullivan didn't choke. What he did do, however - just like Ian Thorpe in his favourite 200-metre freestyle event at the 2000 Sydney Olympics, when he was a sure thing beaten by Holland's Pieter van den Hoogenband - was fall into swimming's oldest trap.

"You see little kids when they're swimming and their coaches tell them not to look around," Sullivan says, "and they're doing breaststroke and they're in front and [he motions with his head turning like a side-show clown] they look back to see where the others are. I guess you never lose that sort of thing, and when you see someone next to you, that's when instinct tells you to try harder and that's when your technique goes. ..."

[Link]

This is how close the Beijing Olympics, 50-free final went; Hail Cesar:

21.30 - Cesar Cielo
21.45 - Amaury Leveaux
21.49 - Alain Bernard
21.62 - Ashley Callus
21.64 - Ben Wildman-Tobriner
21.65 - Eamon Sullivan
21.67 - Roland Schoeman
21.72 - Stefan Nystrand

Stefan Nystrand and Theresa Alshammar "race" each other in a yogurt commercial!

Alshammar eyes are like blue diamonds with a pupil in the center of each one!

Both Stefan Nystrand and Alain Bernard sound hungry for WRs - Eamon Sullivan just seems bored!

Stefen Nystrand, the Sweede, is a very gutsy sprinter who, when interviewed, seems to talk about his upcoming races like they are opportunities. See interview at FloSwimming: [Link]

Alain Bernard, the Frenchman, looks at each race as if it was a defining moment of his ability and hard work! Idon't think it is a stretch to include that he strongly desires to elevate and maintain his position as the very best. See subtitled You Tube interview: [Link]



Eamon Sullivan, according to this profile in the The West.au: "... He hoped the move would mark a new chapter in his career and set him on the path for bigger and brighter things over the next four years.

“A change of location is probably what I need to refresh my passion for the sport,” he said. “Right now I am enjoying being me and I’ve come back [from a six week vacation in Europe] motivated and happy and ready to get back into things.” ..." [Link]

We at the SCAQ blog welcome our European, sprinter, overlords!

Stefan Nystrand: "...46 seconds in an Olympic pool is coming fast."

Nicole Jeffrey has an article in The Australian about sprinter Stefan Nystrand and his thoughts about the upcoming FINA World Cup meet this weekend in Sydney, Australia.

Here is a snippet: "...The world short-course record-holder, who arrived in Sydney yesterday to contest next weekend's World Cup meet, predicted that every leading sprinter would be eyeing off the 47-second barrier after Australia's Eamon Sullivan clocked a sensational 47.05sec in an Olympic semi-final in Beijing.

"It's very close (to 47 seconds) already," Nystrand said.

"Men's freestyle sprinting is going down a lot now and it wouldn't surprise me if it kept going down, but you have to swim and accept the fact that times go down and go with the flow. ..." [Link]

This time last year Nystrand was king of the hill, the only man to clock a sub-48 second time (47.91sec) in 2007. The Swede also set an outstanding short-course world record of 45.83sec. ..."

(See You Tube above of Nystrand swimming a 45.83 100SCM.)

You can watch him swim for free by going to the Universal Sports website. Click the banner below to see it.

Note Roland Schoeman's catch! - Very disimilar to Stefan Nystrand

I am seeing two schools of catching water here: the classic textbook technique of Roland Schoeman versus the sheer brutality of Stefan Nystrand's "tomahawk chop."

The 50m free will be very exciting since all of the swimmers in the final have unique ways of sprinting.

Glenn Mills gave me permission to post the Roland Schoeman trailer. I will be reviewing the DVD as soon as I get it.

Quick thoughts

Thoughts on the 50 free prelim:

1) Cielo looks straight down the whole way
2) Nystrand has a "tomahawk/windmill" stroke as do many others.
3) Tobriner has his arms go into the water at a angle.
4) Schoeman has a very symmetrical stroke. His body is very rigid. (Rotates little?)

Thoughts on the 200 breast:

1) Rebecca Soni has a short glide phase and at least "two or three hearts."
2) Jones should have won but SOni was stronger - Jones looked fatigued all throughout - even on the blocks

Thoughts on the 200 back:

1) Lochte's Dad cried. :-]
2) Perisol did it again! He kicks on his belly during the turn! - NOT OK
3) Lochte does not kick on his belly

Thoughts on the Women's 200 back:

1) Manaudou lost weight, looks pale. Could be the LZR making her look thinner!

Thoughts on the 200 IM

1) Cseh is the most underrated swimmer in these Olympics
2) Phelps is making this looks so easy. Is it easy?

Women's 100 Free thoughts

1) Francesca Halsall has a beautiful body!
2) Britta Steffen STORMED it in the last 10 meters. Where everybody was fading she got stronger.
3) Natalie Coughlin is STRONG!

Watch the replay of Sulivan's 100 LCM freestyle win and note his straight arm recovery

We are seeing a lot of innovation this year in swimming from stroke to speedsuits. I actually have a straight arm recovery as seen above when I sprint and I am working hard to change it since my turnover needs to speed up. It's amazing how these athletes like Sullivan, Nystrand, et al. can make it work.

To see a higher-rez version of this video, click here: [Link]

Ceasar Cielo uses a straight arm recovery!

UPDATE: Reedit number three of this of this post with better references especially since Glen Mills says it better than I do in the third and fourth paragraphs and I also included an article he wrote dedicatd to the subject. Also, I quote the Canuck Swimmer way better:

Technique should not be a religious conviction but rather a evolving process validated by the clock.

The Total Immersion school refrains from a straight arm recovery and in my opinion they should adjust and be less dogmatic. Note Ceasar Cielo's straight arm recovery. So, now we have Stefan Nystrand, Eamon Sulivan and Cesar Cielo swimming and winning with a straight arm recovery. This is more evidence that swim technique should be adopted to one's body type and abilities rather than compromising one's ability or strengths to fit into a specific technique or form.

Glen Mills says: "... My opinion is simply that they should each be tried, cause ya never know which is going to be right for the swimmer until each has been somewhat explored.

You can tell pretty quickly with most swimmers, but with some it's going to take more work. From a physiological, and biomechanical point of view, since no two people are created the same, I personally don't think we can say one has an advantage over the other. Of course, until you apply it to one person... then we're back to the previous statement, search, experiment, explore, then determine. ..." [Link]

Here is an article by Glenn Mills dedicated completely to the subject of arm recovery: "...Everyone will have a slightly different recovery, based on physiology, age, gender, strength, fitness level, flexibility, goal of swim, etc. (you can see there are a lot of variables). Yet with all the variations and suggestions about the proper recovery, everyone is pretty much agreed that the GOAL is to get the hand to the point at which it’s going to begin the next stroke. Generally, you want to achieve full extension out front, enough rotation to hook your body into the stroke, and (hopefully) not too many air bubbles UNDER the hand (even that’s open to debate). ..." [Link]

The Canuckswimmer stated on his blog: "...A column written by Olympic gold medalist and physician Gary Hall Sr. goes a step further and speculates this technique may be a major contributing factor in their success by virtue of its ability to utilize centrifugal force to speed up the recovery stroke.

Clay Evans said that exceptionally strong upper bodies of the swimmers in question all have the ability to use their arms as effective fulcrums leveraging more water like a kayak paddle.

My take is that the freestyle stroke becomes a physically simpler stroke to execute with less "wiggle" and "fewer moving parts" since a straight arm recovery forces the hips and shoulders to rotate in unison thereby leveraging the body into the proper hydro-dynamic position setting up a better streamline scenario for a powerful catch.

Clay Evans, Lyle Nellie and Erik Hochstein told me that during a sprint you reach your maximum speed by the 4th or 5th stroke and that is when you relax and just maintain momentum. Erik, Clay and Lyle called it "easy speed." So does Bonnie Adair. Hence, the simpler the execution, the easier it is to relax and maintain momentum and that is the crux of all swimming: maintaining momentum.

I am not a great swimmer, I may even be the slowest blogger but I love swimming and I love trying to improve my swimming in every workout. I do that by listening, practicing and refining. This straight arm rcovery has me intrigued!

Both Eamon Sullivan and Stefan Nystrand use a straight arm recovery when sprinting and both have set world records

A straight arm recovery certainly violates the [...] as well as the Eddie Reese on Freestyle DVD; though Eddie Reese to his credit is certainly a bit more flexible about it.

Note Eamon Sullivan's straight arm recovery and then compare it to the frantic windmill of Stefan Nystrand. Very similar styles here on the recovery.

I am wondering if a straight arm recovery; if you have a fast turnover to go along with it, creates better body rotation than a bent elbow?

Posted with permission from WCSN. Ask you cable provider for WCSN or click the link below to see WCSN events streaming live, baby!

www.wcsn.com

WCSN has granted me permission to post swim videos to the blog - Here is Nystrand setting a world record in Berlin

WCSN has been very good to swimming. So far they have provided the best swim coverage to date of any other sports network around. I would venture to say that their coverage has even surpassed NBC Olympic coverage in that they make their product instantly accessible at their website for an insignificant fee or they provide it to the public weeks later on You Tube for free.

Consequently, conversations now are taking place all over creation at such places as message boards, blogs, and at the swimming pools regarding technique, accomplishments, and every other nuance about our sport. This is the organization that USA Swimming could have used to market the sport of Swimming rather than practically invisible Sportsnet. Money talks I suppose.

The key factor in allowing this to occur is that I won't run any advertising or secretly "pimp" a product in exchange for favor, cash or merchandise. (I have been offered!)

For superb and dynamic media coverage of the sport of swimming, visit the swim coverage WCSN website: [Link]

Above is Stefan Nystrand setting a world record in Berlin with his unconventional windmill stroke. What pulls it off for him is his insanely fast turnover. I wonder what his shoulder MRI looks like? Probably just titanium cogs and gears.

www.wcsn.com

My unqualified critique of a Terry Laughlin article at "about.com"

I saw this article a couple of weeks ago and I was apprehensive about posting it. I couldn't figure out why till tonight. In this about.com article, Terry Laughlin puts forth some interesting statistics and compelling arguments regarding Popov's power output in relation to the swimmers he competed against. Ultimately Laughlin makes a case for how important technique is over brute force. Here is a short paragraph from the article:

"... In the same vein, Rick Sharp and Jane Cappaert of the International Center for Aquatic Research have reported that of all the men's 100-meter freestylers in the 92 Olympics, the finalists averaged a power output 16% LOWER than everyone else in the field who FAILED to make finals. This is so because swimmers who maximize their stroke efficiency simply don't NEED as much power to swim fast. ..." [Link]

My problem with the article is Laughlin's stringent use of Popov's technique as an über template of perfect symmetry and grace which he seemingly suggests should be used as the de facto standard. Personally, I feel the freestyle form is fluid and evolving. I think one's gross anatomy, their flexibility, and the strength of the individual determines how they should swim. In other words you shouldn't fit the person to the stroke but rather fit the stroke to the person. To support my argument I included a video above from You Tube of Stefan Nystrand setting a world record in the 100 free SCM. Note, he swims like a submerged helicopter and he can do it faster than Popov.

In his first lap Nystrand takes 13-strokes. On laps two and three he takes 16 strokes, on his last lap I counted 19-strokes. I had to watch it twice to confirm.

UPDATE: I am submitting this video of Nystrand from the front view. Note how he looks up rather than downward. The total immersion school feels you should look more downward, Personally I have to look more downward to stay flatter in the water due to the shape of my body. Nystrand apparently does not have to.