We asked our swimming data partner TritonWear to help us with a deeper insight into performances and what makes elite swimmers fast and where they can improve. This is their TritonWear analysis.
The Men’s 200 IM at the US 2021 Trials was arguably one of the fascinating races to watch. GOAT Michael Phelps himself was at a loss of words after Andrew’s ground-breaking 23.77 FLY split with him later commenting that the last leg of Michael Andrews 200 IM ”shows training error”. Is Phelps right, or will Andrew’s all-out all-the-time race strategy stand the test and claim the throne as the best athlete in the 200IM 2021 Olympics?
We have pinned the two winners of the US Olympic Trials 2016 and 2021 against each other to find out. The 200 IM is an event with great history and some unforgettable battles between Michael Phelps and world record holder Ryan Lochte.
Undoubtedly when they are on the blocks, these guys are ready to swim fast, but we are about to look at their metrics and uncover how they are doing it. To do this, we used our TritonWear metrics to analyze these races and broke them down by phase (transitions, overwater, underwater) the same way it is done in the TritonWear app. Here is the epic showdown:
→Transitions
Andrew started the race with a Dive Block Time (a.k.a reaction time) of 0.68, slightly faster than Phelps 0.70. Unfortunately, the faster reaction time did not translate to a better dive time or distance gained from the start. On the other hand, despite Phelps being slightly slower on the reaction time, he still clocked the highest Dive Hang Time of 0.42 (stayed longer during flight and covered more distance) and Dive Time of 1.12 building his speed and distance advantage heading into the water. Both his Hang Time and Dive Time are the best among all the finalists from both Trials.
→Underwater
Andrew Time UW is nearly the lowest in the field, but his speed is the fastest by far while Phelps stays midrange on both.
Despite his great speed underwater, Andrew forfeits his advantage by surfacing too early.
→Overwater
Andrew set out in a ground-breaking 23.77 for his FLY split 1.12 seconds faster than the world record split but perhaps went a little too much on his legs to go that fast. We are definitely seeing a tradeoff in Andrew’s Backstroke Underwater Time ( 2.64) due to his Fly Overwater Speed. For the same comparison, Phelps split a 25.05 for his Fly with an Underwater Time in Backstroke of 4.82.
Andrew outperformed on Breaststroke Distance Per Cycle of 2.55 by pairing it with a strong Stroke Rate and securing a fantastic 32.29. Phelps, on the other hand, dominated in Freestyle by increasing his Stroke Rate to finish strong.
Key Takeaways
- Andrew’s Fly split created a big lead but was perhaps too fast, impacting his underwater time in backstroke and overwater speed in freestyle.
- His powerful underwater created great speed on all splits but would benefit from improving his underwater time.
- Lastly, to claim his throne as the world’s best in the 200IM, he needs to keep his stroke rate up through the middle and end of his freestyle and power through to the finish.
How TritonWear Can Help You Swim Faster
Even though these athletes are elite athletes at the highest level, we were able to analyze their data and uncover insights for faster swimming, and we can do the same for your training. TritonWear is a sleek wearable device and app that helps you train well consistently, so you can swim faster. It captures and relays 30+ data points in real-time to any mobile device on deck. Triton Score analyzes your data and provides you with actionable insights highlighting exactly where you’re excelling and what you need to improve on to swim faster.
Learn more about the science behind analyzing your data for you by clicking here.
So first of all I think MA takes this race out way too fast which hurts him on the freestyle leg. If he was out half a second slower I think his freestyle leg would improve by about a second. Second, I know that part of his USRPT training involves several 50s (Ex. 20×50) on a short interval (45 or 50). This would indicate that he should have the endurance to put together a better freestyle leg. With that being said maybe he is taking it out too fast which causes him to fatigue at the end of the race. I know that he is primarily a sprinter and his race strategy has already led to him being one of… Read more »
MA will go 1:53.99 and silence the critics
in next years world championships
can’t see it happening in 10 days
Who cares if he wins the gold in 1.56?
Times don’t matter at olympic games.
Swimmers are obsessed with the wrong things. Guilty as well. If it’s faster it’s faster. If no one in the world has done it it’s hard to see the logic from someone who has gone slower. Just because you needed to swim it that way to for your strengths doesn’t mean it suits MA. Also no way MA ever goes 1:54.10 as good as he is.
I would also like to say great analysis! But, would he have gone a better time going out 5 tenths slower in the fly? I don’t know if you can definitively say he went out to fast. Maybe it all comes together in Tokyo?
Maybe a dumb question, but *can* MA go out 0.5 slower in fly? He’s a sprinter and it’s possible that his stroke technique is optimized for really fast swimming. Phelps, on the other hand, was a 200 butterflier practically out of the womb and swimming a controlled first 50 with easy speed that didn’t tax him was a tactical advantage he used to both be out fast *and* save his legs for an incredible last 50. I think this is a very different toolkit than what MA has. In his own way, MA might simply be working with what he has
He said after the race that he felt like going out slower in the 50 fly wouldn’t really save him much energy – he felt like he had so much easy speed, that he doesn’t think going out slower on the fly would actually help him close any faster.
It’s all hypothetical of course, but if anyone has experimented with every conceivable combination of approaches, seems like it would be MA and PA.
Well doesn’t be train for that though? He does plenty of sets like 20×50 on 45 or 50 at 200 pace. He simply needs to settle into that kind of pace early on and it will definitely help him on the freestyle leg.
Yeah I think it would definitely help him. 23.7 is just too fast. There is a reason most people at this level go out a second slower or more.
Phelps start never looked amazing but its cool to know how good he was at it. He always carried his momentum unbelievably well.
MA all the way!
Maybe Phelps should go back into training and show MA how to swim a proper 2IM.
Phelps has probably swum enough 1:54’s for Andrew to look back on.
OFF-TOPIC FOR BRADEN: The IOC’s guide to the participating swimmers (you linked to it earlier today) has LYDIA JACOBY as being born on March 1, 2008, and lists her as being 13.
https://olympics.com/tokyo-2020/olympic-games/en/results/swimming/athlete-profile-n1790180-jacoby-lydia.htm
I thought she was born on Leap Day, 2004 making her 17 now.
QUESTION: Is the amazing SwimSwam $200-A-Pop Guide to Olympic Swimming more accurate than the IOC’s?