Kazuyuki Kanosue, Tomoyuki Nagami and Jun Tsuchiya (eds.)Sports Performance10.1007/978-4-431-55315-1_25

25. Open Water Swimming Performance

Reira Hara¹ and Isao Muraoka²

(1)

Graduate School of Sport Sciences, Waseda University, Saitama, Japan

(2)

Faculty of Sport Sciences, Waseda University, Saitama, Japan

Reira Hara

Email: laylahara@yahoo.co.jp

Abstract

Open water swimming is defined as any swimming competition that takes place in rivers, lakes, oceans, or water channels. Since the inclusion of open water swimming as an Olympic event in 2008, it has steadily been gaining popularity worldwide. Many studies have focused on the risks involved in open water swimming events. The purpose of this chapter is to review and shed light on the risks and performance factors of open water swimming. It is hoped that this information will improve both safety and performance worldwide. Most studies have reported that open water swimming involves risks of hypothermia and afterdrop. Since hypothermia can lead to death, adequate medical preparations must be made in order to attend to emergency cases. Another possible risk involved with the sport is heat stroke. Fédération Internationale de Natation (FINA) sets rules for water temperature on race days. However, some studies have found that racing under the FINA rules can still leave some swimmers vulnerable to heat stroke. Special attention must be given to the race conditions and should include the possibility of providing food to contestants during the race. The United States and Brazil performed experiments with their top athletes to investigate physiological stresses in relation to race conditions. These studies suggested that pre core temperature and capillary glycemia were related to their race times. Because these studies were reported in 2004 (VanHeest et al. 2004), further investigation must be conducted in open water swimmers to determine the factors that can maximize performance in this event.

Keywords

Open water swimmingRiskPerformance

25.1 Introduction

Open water swimming is defined as any swimming competition that takes place in rivers, lakes, oceans, or water channels (Fédération Internationale de Natation 2013b). Since the inclusion of open water swimming as an Olympic event in 2008, it has steadily been gaining popularity worldwide; events have taken place with over 25,000 participants (Tipton 2014).

The first open water swimming event was held more than 100 years ago. In this sport, “ channel swim” is considered the most common ultra-endurance swimming event. The “English channel swim” between England and France is one of the most famous channel swims, and athletes are required to cover a distance of 34 km. The first person officially swam the Channel in 1875 with a time of 21 h 45 min (Eichenberger et al. 2012). Many swimmers have since challenged this channel swim and improved the time. In 2013, Rebecca Lewis swam the channel in 9 h 2 min. Rules of the English Channel swim were set such that one boat with the coach was required to be present with each swimmer. The swimmers can get food and drink from the coach whenever required. Although the actual distance across the channel is 34 km, many swimmers end up swimming distances of approximately 40–50 km because of the strong currents. The water temperature is approximately 16 °C, even in the summer. Swimmers have to swim in these severe conditions, and are not allowed to wear protective or performance enhancing swimsuits. Although many swimmers have attempted the channel swim in recent years, the success rate remains at approximately at 60 %. Therefore, the channel swim is difficult even to just to finish (The channel swim association 2013).

There are other open water swimming events organized by Fédération Internationale de Natation (FINA). These events do not have such large currents and are less difficult to finish, but the participants have to swim at higher swimming speeds. Each year from 1997 to 2006, FINA organized the Open Water World Cup, which included a whole range of long distance events. Since 2007, FINA decided to have the World Cup focus only on the 10 km distance. This was a direct consequence of the introduction of the 10 km open water swimming to the Olympic programme in 2005 (Fédération Internationale de). Many elite athletes participated in the World Cup as training event for the Olympics. This event requires that one coach watch each swimmer as a safety precaution. If athletes do not have a coach with them, they cannot compete in the race (Fédération Internationale de Natation 2012). Similar to the channel swim, the times for the 10 km events have been improving over the years. At the World Championships in 2010, the 10 km men’s champion finished the race in 2:00:59.3, while the 10 km women’s champion finished in 2:05:45.2. At the 2013 World Championships, the men’s champion finished in 1:49:11.8, while the women’s champion finished in 1:58:19.2. Had the 2010 champions swam at the 2013 World Championships and finished with the 2010 times, the male would have finished in 58th place and the female 44th place (Fédération Internationale de Natation 2011, 2013a). Presently, coaches can give food and sports drink to the swimmers at the feeding platforms. FINA has set rules requiring that a floating or stationary feeding station be available at least every 2.5 km for sponsored competitions greater than 5 km (Fédération Internationale de Natation 2012). In addition, the swimmers can eat and drink not only at the feeding areas but also anywhere along the course. If they want to eat or drink outside the feeding area, they simply swim with the food placed underneath their swimsuits.

Channel swimming has a long history, and consequently many studies have focuesed on the channel swim (Dwyer 1983; Eichenberger et al. 2012; Finlay et al. 1995, 1996; Karamouzis et al. 2002; Knechtle et al. 2010; Thomas et al. 2000; Wagner et al. 2012). Most of the studies have focused on the risk of open water swimming because of the number of swimmers who are not able to finish the race owing to medical problems. Indeed, we lost a famouse athlete in the FINA 10 km World Cup. This is a clear indication that the participants in such races need adequate information on the risks of open water swimming. A few studies have also focused on the performance aspects of the 10 km World Cup, but these do not contain adequate information in order for coaches and athletes to properly train for the Olympic Games (Castro et al. 2009; Macaluso et al. 2013; VanHeest et al. 2004). Coaches and athletes are therefore searching for the best training methods for open water swimming, but the proper scientific information does not exist. Before proceeding to review the different aspects of open water swimming for the Olympics, we will cover what is known about the topic. The purpose of this chapter is to review and shed light on the risks and performance factors of open water swimming in order to improve upon the performance and safety factors of open water events worldwide.

25.2 Risk of Open Water Swimming

Hypothermia and dehydration are the most prevalent medical risks for open water swimming (Castro et al. 2009; Gerrard 1999). To reduce the frequency of hypothermia, FINA has set rules on the minimum temperature of water allowed during the race. The water temperature should be a minimum of 16 °C, and it should be checked the day of the race, 2 h before the start, and during the race itself (Fédération Internationale de Natation 2012). Although, many studies have focused on hypothermia, we will focus on heat stroke. During the 2010 FINA 10 km open water World Cup in Fujaurah (Dubai), an elite United States athlete died. Although the results of the autopsy have not been revealed, concerns have been raised about the high water temperatures. A FINA official claimed that the water temperature exceeded 31 °C near the finishing time of that race (Macaluso et al. 2013). After this incident, some researchers focused on heat stroke, and FINA set a new rule: the water temperature allowed would be a maximum of 31 °C (Fédération Internationale de Natation 2013b). Additionally to reduce the frequency of dehydration, FINA has set another rule for the 10 km World Cup that feeding stations must be at least 2.5 km apart (Fédération Internationale de Natation 2012).

25.2.1 Hypothermia

Many studies have reported on hypothermia during open water swimming events, mainly focusing on the channel swims (Dwyer 1983; Eichenberger et al. 2012; Finlay et al. 1995, 1996; Karamouzis et al. 2002; Knechtle et al. 2010; Thomas et al. 2000; Wagner et al. 2012). The study by Castro et al. (2009) is the only study involving experiments performed at the FINA 10 km World Cup (Castro et al. 2009). Brazilian athletes, who are some of the top open water swimmers in recent years, participated in this experiment. The water temperature was 21 °C, which is considered an ordinary open water swimming event temperature. Most athletes finished the race with mild (34–35 °C; n = 3) to moderate (30–34 °C; n = 7) hypothermia. These results indicate that even elite athletes have a risk of hypothermia that is dependent upon water temperature. This study also mentioned that the difference between pre and post competition core-temperatures was greater in female athletes than in male athletes.

Another study focused on afterdrop (Thomas et al. 2000). Afterdrop is a phenomenon described as continued core cooling following removal from cold stress. The distance of the experimental race was approximately 3 km, and the water tempreture was 11.7 °C. Core temperatures were recorded before and after (every 3 min for 45 min after the race) the open water swimming event. Afterdrop was noted in 10 of the 11 subjects, even though they were dried off and wore hospital gowns in a heated room. One participant had to stop the experiment because the core temperature did not stop decreasing and went below 35 °C.

Given the results of several previous studies, it can be concluded that open water swimming poses a risk of hypothermia and afterdrop. Howebver, under the FINA rules, the full wet suits which surfers and triathletes wear, are still not allowed. The only allowed solutions to prevent hypothermia are to use grease or increase body fat mass, especially for women. Adequate preparation for medical care must be made in order to attend to emergency cases.

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