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Sports

Swimming

Eight swimmers in eight lanes, one distance, one clock: the first to touch the wall wins, and every time is shown to a hundredth of a second.

A swimming evening

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  1. Get it: how it works, in about 2 minutes.
  2. A final to watch: Day 4 Finals | 2026 Short Course World Championship Trials, on USA Swimming's own channel, played in YouTube's player on its page.
  3. The videogames: none is listed yet.

Get it

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New to swimming about 2 minutes

What you are watching

  • Races are swum in a pool 50 metres long, called long course, or 25 metres long, called short course. Olympic races are in the 50-metre pool.18
  • An Olympic pool has eight lanes, each 2.5 metres wide. World Championships pools have ten lanes, but their semi-finals and finals use eight.1
  • Each swimmer starts, swims and finishes in one lane. Lane ropes divide the lanes and calm the waves; swimmers must not pull on them or get in each other's way.1

How a race is won

  • Freestyle, breaststroke, butterfly and individual medley races start with a dive; backstroke races and medley relays start in the water. On "take your marks" swimmers get into position, and when all are still the starter gives the signal.1
  • The fastest time wins. The starter starts the clock, and each swimmer's time stops when they touch the panel on the wall at the end of their lane.18
  • Times are recorded and shown to a hundredth of a second, and swimmers with equal times share the place.1
  • A swimmer who starts before the signal may be disqualified; if the signal has already gone, the race goes on and the disqualification comes at the end. A disqualified swimmer gets no time and no place.1

What to watch for

  • In freestyle, backstroke and butterfly, a swimmer may be fully underwater for no more than 15 metres after the start and each turn; floats of another colour on the lane ropes mark the 15 metres. In breaststroke, one arm stroke back to the legs and one butterfly kick are allowed underwater.18
  • At the wall, breaststroke and butterfly swimmers must touch with both hands at once; backstroke swimmers must finish on their back; in freestyle, any part of the body may touch.18
  • The fastest swimmers race in the middle: in an eight-lane final the fastest seed has lane 4 and the next lane 5. Swimmers make waves, and being nearer the centre can help.18
  • In the 400, 800 and 1500 m freestyle, officials at the far end show lap cards with the number of laps left, and a whistle or bell warns each swimmer when two laps plus 5 metres remain.1
Following it about 4 minutes

From heats to the final

  • Every swimmer enters with their fastest time in the event. The entry times rank the field and place it in heats, with the fastest swimmers spread over the last heats.1
  • Times in the heats send the fastest on to two semi-finals, and the eight fastest in the semi-finals swim the final. At the Paris 2024 Olympics, heats were swum in the morning and semi-finals and finals in the evening.110
  • At the short course (25m) World Championships, 50 and 100 m events have heats, semi-finals and finals, and events of 200 m and more go from heats straight to the final. The 800 and 1500 m freestyle may be decided on times alone, with only the fastest heat swum in the finals session.1

Relays and mixed relays

  • A relay team is four swimmers, each swimming a quarter of the distance, and no one may swim twice in the same race. A mixed relay team is two men and two women.1
  • At each change the next swimmer's feet must still be on the starting platform when the teammate in the water touches the wall; leaving too early disqualifies the team. World Championship pools have sensors that check the take-overs.18

Records and points

  • World records are kept separately for 50 m and 25 m pools, since more or fewer turns can help or hinder a swimmer. The 25 m list has events the 50 m list does not, such as the 100 m individual medley and the 4 × 50 m relays.18
  • World Aquatics Points compare swims in different events: points = 1000 × (base time ÷ swim time)³, where the base time comes from the latest approved world record. World-class swims usually score 1000 or more.3

The season

  • World Aquatics puts three competitions in its top tier: the Olympic Games, the World Aquatics Championships and the World Aquatics Swimming Championships (25m).1
  • The World Aquatics Championships bring all six aquatic sports together. Held every year from 2022 to 2024, they are back to every two years from 2025: Singapore 2025 was the 22nd edition, and Budapest 2027 is next.511
  • The World Aquatics Swimming Championships (25m) are for swimming only, in a short course pool, and have usually been held in the years between the World Championships. The 2026 edition is set for Beijing, from 1 to 6 December.612
  • The Swimming World Cup is a series of meets that World Aquatics sets each year, traditionally in 25 m pools. The 2026 series was planned as three stops in October: Baku, Tashkent and Astana.1137

The four strokes and the medley

Freestyle
Any style is allowed; in medley races it means any style other than the other three, and swimmers generally use front crawl.19
Backstroke
Swum on the back from a start in the water, both hands on the starting grips; the body may roll up to, but not including, 90 degrees.1
Breaststroke
Arms and legs move together, never alternating, one arm stroke then one kick, and the head comes up in every cycle.1
Butterfly
Both arms come forward over the water at the same time and the legs kick up and down together; a breaststroke kick is not allowed.1
Medley
One swimmer swims all four strokes, a quarter of the race each, in the order butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke, freestyle; in a medley relay four swimmers go backstroke, breaststroke, butterfly, freestyle.19
The words
Long course
A 50-metre pool, the one used at the Olympic Games and the World Championships.8
Short course
A 25-metre pool; its races have more turns and their own world records.81
Heat
A preliminary race; the times across all the heats decide who goes on.1
Seeding
Placing swimmers in heats and lanes by their times, with the fastest in the middle lanes.1
Swim-off
An extra race between swimmers tied for the last place in a semi-final or final, in events of 200 m or less.1
Touch panel
The pad on the end wall that stops a swimmer's time when they touch it.18
Backstroke flags
A line of flags 1.8 metres above the water and 5 metres from each wall, put up for backstroke and medley races.1
15-metre mark
The point by which a swimmer's head must be up after the start and each turn, marked by floats of another colour.1
Individual medley (IM)
One swimmer, four strokes, a quarter each: butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke, freestyle.19
Medley relay
Four swimmers, one stroke each: backstroke, breaststroke, butterfly, freestyle. Backstroke goes first because it starts in the water.19
Relay take-over
The moment the next relay swimmer leaves the block; their feet must still be on it when the teammate touches.18
Split
A time taken partway through a race; the first relay swimmer's 50 m and 100 m splits are published.1
Timed final
A race decided on times across all its heats, the fastest heat swum in the finals session; used for the 800 and 1500 m freestyle.113
Crown
At the Swimming World Cup, winning the same event at all three stops (or, in the 800 or 1500 m freestyle, two of the three).7

Sources

Facts from the governing body's pages are stated in this site's own words. The claims that cite Wikipedia are adapted (changed) from the cited articles, and those claims are offered under CC BY-SA 4.0.

  1. Competition Regulations, in force as from February 2026 (updated 18.02.2026): Part One, Rules applicable to all aquatic sports, and Part Two, Swimming rules, World Aquatics (The official rules; nothing of it is copied here), read 2026-11-05
  2. Competition Regulations, World Aquatics (© World Aquatics; facts stated in this site's own words), read 2026-11-05
  3. World Aquatics Points, World Aquatics (© World Aquatics; facts stated in this site's own words), read 2026-11-05
  4. Swimming competitions, World Aquatics (© World Aquatics; facts stated in this site's own words), read 2026-11-05
  5. World Aquatics Championships - Singapore 2025, World Aquatics (© World Aquatics; facts stated in this site's own words), read 2026-11-05
  6. World Aquatics Swimming Championships (25m) 2026, World Aquatics (© World Aquatics; facts stated in this site's own words), read 2026-11-05
  7. One month to go: World Aquatics Swimming World Cup 2026 set to light up the Silk Road, World Aquatics (© World Aquatics; facts stated in this site's own words), read 2026-11-05
  8. Competitive swimming, Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0), read 2026-11-05
  9. Medley swimming, Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0), read 2026-11-05
  10. Swimming at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0), read 2026-11-05
  11. World Aquatics Championships, Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0), read 2026-11-05
  12. World Aquatics Swimming Championships (25m), Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0), read 2026-11-05
  13. World Aquatics Swimming World Cup, Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0), read 2026-11-05
  14. competitive swimming (Q31920), Wikidata (CC0), read 2026-11-05

Watch

From the channels of swimming's own rights holders: bodies whose Wikidata record names the sport, each checked by the rights holders' rule. Their videos play in YouTube's player, with YouTube's ads, on each video's own page once you press Play.

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  • Wim Hof Method's channel appears here once its check completes.

On now

Starting within 48 hours

5 of the sport's videos and broadcasts are not shown where you are: their rights holders limit them to other countries on YouTube, and YouTube's region for each one decides.

From HTU Stadi, Magyar Úszó Szövetség, Natació Gramenet, USA Swimming, 2026///Sitio Web Oficial QAC (its swimming videos, by their own titles), A.C. IONIKOS (its swimming videos, by their own titles), ASC Göttingen von e.V (its swimming videos, by their own titles), C. A. INDEPENDIENTE (its swimming videos, by their own titles), Club Atlético Lanús (its swimming videos, by their own titles), Club de Gimnasia y Esgrima La Plata (its swimming videos, by their own titles), Club Ferro Carril Oeste (its swimming videos, by their own titles), Club Marina Ferrol (its swimming videos, by their own titles), Club Natació Sant Feliu - #somCNSF (its swimming videos, by their own titles), Club Náutico Sevilla (its swimming videos, by their own titles), Dresdner Sportclub 1898 - Sport- und Bewegungsangebot in Dresden (its swimming videos, by their own titles), DSV Deutscher Schwimm-Verband e.V (its swimming videos, by their own titles), European Aquatics (its swimming videos, by their own titles), Europske sveučilišne igre Zagreb-Rijeka 2016 (its swimming videos, by their own titles), FC Barcelona Página Oficial del FC Barcelona (its swimming videos, by their own titles), Flamengo (its swimming videos, by their own titles), Fluminense Football Club (its swimming videos, by their own titles), Inicio | Club Hércules Termaria (its swimming videos, by their own titles), International University Sports Federation (its swimming videos, by their own titles), Northwestern University Athletics (its swimming videos, by their own titles), VfL Osnabrück GmbH Co. KGaA (its swimming videos, by their own titles), World Aquatics (its swimming videos, by their own titles), XVIII Juegos Bolivarianos (its swimming videos, by their own titles), Α.Σ. Άρης Θεσσαλονίκης | Επίσημη Ιστοσελίδα Συλλόγου (its swimming videos, by their own titles) and ΑΟΝΣ "Ο ΜΙΛΩΝ" - Αθλητικός Όμιλος Νέας Σμύρνης (its swimming videos, by their own titles).

From the world's archives: search their films for “swimming”, which finds the films whose records hold the word, as each archive files them.

Play: the videogames

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Later, dates to come

The full calendar, national competitions included, is World Aquatics' swimming competitions.