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Is a 'slow' swimming pool impeding world records?

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Re: Is a 'slow' swimming pool impeding world records?

#151

Post by throwaheyy »

ff317 wrote: post #123
mmmrtl wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Explain to us how water "tension", density, and viscosity are variables that would change? It's just water, and temperature is set at ~25 C. The shape of the pool and gutter setup are the only major factors at play, assuming the filtration system isn't causing major currents.

Yeah but it's not just "water", as in plain H2O. All water has different things dissolved or mixed into it. In pools there's commonly several chemicals added to that water: to correct the pH for humans, to sanitize, control corrosion of metal, avoid calcium deposits on other surfaces, etc. It's entirely possible that the additives in the water could be way off of normal and somehow affect things like viscosity or sur…

No, it isn't.

Re: Is a 'slow' swimming pool impeding world records?

#152

Post by bitmasher9 »

beloch wrote: post #148
BobAliceInATree wrote: post #124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, in the same way that all Marathon records are set in only a few marathons which have very favorable conditions.

It's hard to control conditions for a Marathon, but what's to stop some future Olympic host from intentionally creating the fastest pool possible that wouldn't be objected to, just so they could watch "their" Olympics break all the records?

Don’t we want Olympic hosts to create optimal conditions for athletes to demonstrate their skills?

Re: Is a 'slow' swimming pool impeding world records?

#153

Post by conductr »

samldev wrote: post #5

I was a college swimmer, qualified for Olympic Trials in 2012 and 2016. There are absolutely slow and fast pools. It basically comes down to two things: 1. The depth - which is only 7ft in Paris, unusually shallow for a competition pool. 2. The sides. Does the water spill over the sides into the gutters, or smash into a wall and bounce back, creating more chop. A trained eye can see all the swimmers in Paris struggli…

My untrained eye has noticed. But I also think it's not really a big deal. There are so few events where the conditions are exactly the same every 4 years. Just kinda the luck of the draw if you happen to be competing in the most ideal conditions for WR setting in any event

Re: Is a 'slow' swimming pool impeding world records?

#154

Post by notatoad »

manojlds wrote: post #149
samldev wrote: post #5

I was a college swimmer, qualified for Olympic Trials in 2012 and 2016. There are absolutely slow and fast pools. It basically comes down to two things: 1. The depth - which is only 7ft in Paris, unusually shallow for a competition pool. 2. The sides. Does the water spill over the sides into the gutters, or smash into a wall and bounce back, creating more chop. A trained eye can see all the swimmers in Paris struggli…

Why doesn't it affect more the people closer to the sides?

this is the reason that the leftmost and rightmost lanes of the pool aren't used for competition.

Re: Is a 'slow' swimming pool impeding world records?

#155

Post by elliottkember »

jeppebemad wrote: post #147

As a counterpoint to the Parisian pool being slow, China beat the world record in 100m free 10 minutes ago.

That's not a counterpoint, it doesn't imply the pool is fast or even normal. In a faster pool his time could've been even lower.

Re: Is a 'slow' swimming pool impeding world records?

#156

Post by matsemann »

I'm fairly certain I read a thorough analysis linked on here a few years ago, about how there was a kind of draft/current in the pool used in the championship at the time. Some analysis determining that certain lanes were favorable or not.

But unable to locate it. Fairly certain it was Barcelona.

Re: Is a 'slow' swimming pool impeding world records?

#157

Post by notatoad »

hnburnsy wrote: post #133
morepork wrote: post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In Paris they didn't want to build a white elephant swimming venue that will never get filled outside of the Olympics. So instead they converted an indoor stadium, the Paris La Défense Arena that is normally used for rugby and concerts. You can see in the timelapse video here[1] the pool being built above the surface. They built it to a depth of 2.15m, the minimum required is 2m, but the recommended depth is 3m. I ca…

Ummmm.... https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paris_Aquatic_Centre

that has a seating capacity of 5000, which is a size that can have future uses.

la defense arena has a capacity of 40000.

Re: Is a 'slow' swimming pool impeding world records?

#159

Post by notatoad »

from the washington post version of this article, the winners are slower but everybody else is faster...

>But the “slow pool” theory does not hold up as well when one looks beyond the winning times. In fact, it appears a bit, ahem, shallow.

>When you consider the times it has taken to earn a spot in the finals in Paris — which is to say, the eighth-place times from either preliminary heats (in events 400 meters or longer) or semifinals — those times have been faster than in Fukuoka in 10 of the 12 events and faster than in Tokyo in five of 12. In the women’s 400 free, for example, it took a time of 4 minutes 3.83 seconds to make it into the final, faster than in Fukuoka (4:04.98) or Tokyo (4:04.07).

https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/olympics/2024/07/30/pa...

Re: Is a 'slow' swimming pool impeding world records?

#160

Post by lelanthran »

warkdarrior wrote: post #115
mensetmanusman wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is an audible difference after being in a high temp high humidity environment for 5 years :)

Have you tried not listening to music underwater??

Under boiling water. He did mention high temperatures as well as humidity, after all.
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