You’ve had a good start, a fast breakout into that first leg of your race and executed some awesome turns and now it’s time for that awesome finish so as to leave no doubt.
For a swimmer it’s not as easy, as running under a sign, through a tape or the sound of a final whistle as time winds down to 00:00. For you the swimmer it’s all about getting your hand to the pad.
Different events require different finishes at he wall, for instance all your fly and breaststroke events require two hands on the wall simultaneously. The backstroke event requires you to stay on your back and not being fully submerged as you touch. The freestyle events require any part of your body hitting that wall.
Regardless of the event you are swimming they all have a few things in common, the first involves accelerating as you near that pad. The last thing you want to do is to relax at the flags and coast into the wall, this could mean the difference of achieving your goal and also leave you off that podium. The next common mistake we see a lot is lifting the head before you touch, maybe to see the scoreboard, but whatever your reason, don’t do it. Your head should be down, eyes looking at the bottom as you touch. Another big misconception is something we have talked about and that is your fingertips will hit the pad before the palm of your hand every time.
The last area involves our breathing into the finish, and other than breaststroke and backstroke for obvious reasons we should not be breathing from the flags in, remember we are accelerating here so let’s stop practicing things that make us go slower.
What can I do to better my finishes, first off finish at the wall each time in a good body position. This is the big one stop touching the ledge of the pool, just stop.
Finish to the imaginary pads on the wall with your head down. Simple things but remember it’s the little things that add millisecond, tenths and maybe a second to your times.
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