ACTIVE DRAG AT LOW SWIMMING VELOCITIES

Rhys Thorp and Barry Wilson.

School of Physical Education, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand.

The purpose of this study was to measure active drag when swimming at velocities encountered in longer swimming events. An adaptation of the Kolmogorov and Duplishcheva (1992) technique is proposed, whereby steady state VO2 is monitored to ensure an equal power output in the two different (free and semi-tethered) conditions. Active drag values calculated were 20±4.7N (mean±SD) for the six experienced male swimmers, at velocities of 1.1±0.1 m/s (mean±SD). These values are comparable with other values predicted for this velocity.