In 1992, American Anita Nall set a world record in the women’s 200 meter breaststroke in a time of 2:25.35. Twenty years later at the 2012 Olympics in London Rebecca Soni broke her own world record with a time of 2:19.59. This represents an improvement of nearly six seconds, the greatest change in a women’s 200 meter world record during that time.
What drove this acceleration? In my opinion, there have been a number of changes and improvements over the years, but one way in which they primarily manifest themselves is in tempo.
Changes in rules, increases in physical strength and development of technical proficiency have all helped breaststrokers to swim faster with a lower tempo, but changes in race strategy and execution have also played a significant role in determining race outcomes. You’ll notice on the charts below that overall 200 breaststroke stroke tempos have slowed down significantly since 1992, but that the increase in stroke rate on the fourth 50 is now far more dramatic. At the 1992 Olympics, the average competitor in the 200 breaststroke increased their tempo by just over one tenth of a second from the third to the fourth 50. In 2012 that average increase rose to over two tenths between the third and fourth 50 and nearly three tenths from the first to the fourth 50, despite a slowing of tempos overall.
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