2019 SOUTHEASTERN CONFERENCE SWIMMING & DIVING CHAMPIONSHIPS
- Tuesday, February 19 – Saturday, February 23
- Gabrielsen Natatorium, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia (Eastern Time Zone)
- Defending Champion: Texas A&M (3x) (results)
- Live results
- Live Video – SEC Network
- Championship Central
Tennessee swimmer Nikol Popov only did 1 underwater pullout off 2 breaststroke walls in the team’s winning, and SEC Meet Record, 200 medley relay on Tuesday to open the SEC Championships. The sophomore, from Santa Clarita, California, is the Volunteers’ top breaststroker this season and split 26.68 on her leg of the relay – the 2nd-fastest of the field. Only Texas A&M junior Anna Belousova (26.33) was faster on that leg of the relay, and Popov was 1.3 seconds better than Kayla Jones, the breaststroker on Missouri’s 2nd-place relay.
Popov swam her split without a pullout: considered by most swimmers to be among the fastest part of a breaststroke swim.
Editor’s Note: for the unindoctrinated, the underwater pullout is the phase of swimming in breaststroke done off each turn or the start. By rules, swimmers can take one full stroke cycle, plus one additional dolphin kick, underwater before surfacing. Unlike the above-water stroke cycle, the underwater stroke cycle can include a pull all the way down past the swimmer’s hips, which gives it the opportunity to be the most powerful pull of any given length.
Instead, Popov did a full pullout off the start, but then off the turn did just a dolphin kick and then quickly surfaced.
There’s a better video on the SEC Network replay here for those with a login, but it can also be made out (sort of) in this video from Georgia swimming on YouTube, which is focused on the Georgia 200 medley relay. Popov can be seen at the very top of the screen in the white cap (4th from the bottom) at about the 1:55 mark. She’s taken 3 strokes before the rest of her competitors finish their pullouts.
On the WatchESPN replay, the fastest heat of the 200 medley relay begins at about the 47 minute mark, if you want a better view, here.
She’s not the first swimmer to experiment with this tactic, In fact, she’s not even the first Tennessee breaststroke to experiment with this tactic. Molly Hannis, a US National Teamer and member of the 2016 U.S. Olympic Team, skipped the underwater pullout on the final length of her 200 breaststroke at the Olympic Trials. Her last 50 split, without a pullout, was 36.1. Tennessee has also tested other unique underwater tactics, including the top-arm breakout in backstroke. Their backstroker, Meghan Small, appeared to use the top-arm breakout in moderation on the start, but not the turn, on Tuesday.
Popov also had a notably-higher stroke rate on the breaststroke than any of her competitors as well.
With Hannis, the trick was skipping the pullout on the last turn. This will be something to keep a eye on for Wednesday’s 200 IM, Friday’s 100 breast, and Saturday’s 200 breast to see how she approaches those underwaters.
I counted 14 strokes on the second lap for Popov. Average around 9 for the field. Incredible.
In the Molly Hannis article from 2016 it says “Based on breaststroke rules, dropping the pullout also means dropping the single downward dolphin kick before it.” Is there anything in the current rulebook that prevents it? In my undestanding of SW 7.1, it is perfectly legal to push off after a turn, do 1 dolphin kick, surface and start swimming breastroke.
SW 7.1: “After the start and after each turn, the swimmer may take one arm stroke completely back to the legs during which the swimmer may be submerged. At any time prior to the first Breaststroke kick after the start and after each turn a single butterfly kick is permitted.The head must break the surface of the water before… Read more »
Back in 2010, I didn’t have a female swimmer do a pullout on her 2nd 25 in the 200 MDR.
The reason not to do a pullout is because of the tremendous drag you create when you bring your arms back up at the tail end portion of the pullout. We timed her regular pullouts and the no pullout for weeks before determining it was faster to skip the pullout. I even had the head of the ncaa rules committee take a look at her no pullout to determine if it was legal, and it was.
As a result, she never slowed down after she pushed off the wall. When doing a pullout, you come to a complete… Read more »
So that’s one pull and one no-pull or two no-pulls?
I think Peaty has changed breaststroke permanently. His stroke, much like Rebecca Soni, is very quick and short which allows him more kicks per lap than his competitors. The kick in breaststroke is far more powerful than the pull with most swimmers. I don’t think the lack of a pullout from the wall accomplishes this same effect though.
He’s so upper body jacked I’m not so sure his pull isn’t more of a weapon for him. His pullouts suck because of his kick. The super narrow kickers generate next to nothing on their pullout. It’s as much about reducing drag as anything.
I don’t know if she actually did it in competition, but I do remember a video of Rebecca Soni talking about this tactic. For some reason I feel like she was talking about it in regards to her 50. That seems counter to the reasoning given here, though, so maybe I’m wrong. I think it was at the SCW when she swept the breast events.
At best it didn’t cost her. At worst it affected her a little. It’s important to keep in mind that doing the extra strokes is costly in terms of muscle fatigue. You can do 8 max effort reps with more power than 11-12 max effort reps. Moreover, for such a short anaerobic effort the extra breathing doesn’t help.
Nice to experiment and break the mold, but in this case it turns out everyone does pullouts because they work better than not doing them.
I am always impressed with Reese Wheatley’s breaststroke pullout, he generally only does three or four breaststrokes afterwards.
We’ve been talking that the calculus might be different for taller or shorter swimmers. Cordes, Larson, Finnerty, Whitley – all very tall swimmers whose pullouts are lethal. Popov, Hannis, Soni, shorter swimmers, weaker pullouts.
You may be right there – the other difference with size is stroke rate. If you have a quick stroke rate, perhaps skipping the pullout can be effective because you can accelerate quicker than someone with a slower stroke rate.
I would fall under the larger swimmers with slower stroke rate category so perhaps that’s why I don’t see the benefit.
I was a short breaststroker who struggled on pullouts, and I think you’re onto something in regards to stroke rate.I talked to Molly Hannis and her coach about it when she skipped her final pullout en route to the Olympic team at 2016 Trials, and their main rationale was maintaining a faster starting speed off the final wall: https://swimswam.com/electricity-creativity-molly-hanniss-outside-box-path-rio/
When Peaty does it, we’ll know it’s about stroke rate. Hannis is dolphin motion-oriented (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h01g8izG5yc) I can see where popping from the underwater dolphin kick without the pullout kick to the stroke makes sense. The ultra-narrow kickers have weaker pullouts — Peaty, a case in point.
Yeah, stroke rate and tempo make a huge difference. I’m just a lowly decidedly average masters swimmer these days, but myself and another guy on my team are perfect cases in point for this.
I’m 5’9″ with a slow tempo, he’s 5’8″ with a high tempo and correspondingly high acceleration, yet our 50/100/200 breast times are usually with a tenth or two in all three races. We’ve raced in the same heat many times and multiple times in the lane next to each other over the years.
He takes about 1.5 strokes for every one of mine and is significantly faster on the surface. I average out about 10-12 yards off the wall on every pullout in the 200, and… Read more »
I am not sure of the science, but this tactic has been around for a long time. It probably depends on the swimmer. My high school coach told our breaststroker to do the same thing on the 200 relay at state championships 45 years ago–I guess it worked as our team won the relay.