Finswimming

Finswimming is the progression of a swimmer using monofins or normal swimfins (called bifins or stereofins within the sport) either on the water surface or underwater, using only muscle strength. It is a discipline of underwater sports. The competition distances are same as for swimming (50 m, 100 m, 200 m, 400 m, 800 m, 1500 m, 4x100 m and 4x200 m relays). Continental and World Championships are organized by CMAS.

History and Distribution

History

There has been a lot written about the first finswimming championships and the origins of fins [Smith (in preparation), British Finswimming Association Manual, Section A] . There were competitions held in France in the early 1920s, Italy in the 1930s and 1940s and in the United Kingdom in the 1950s.

World and Continental Championships are organised under CMAS rules and regulations. The European Championships have run since 1967 (held in Italy). World Championships have been held since 1976 (held in Germany). The World Championships are held every two years (on every odd year) and Continental Championships held in the intervening years. There have been twenty one European Championships. The Asian Finswimming Championships have been held 10 times, having started in 1989, the last being held in 2007 (in Hong Kong). There have been three Pan-American Championships, starting in 1993, with the last being held in 2001 (in Cali, Colombia). There have also been five "Arab Zone" Championships, the last was held in 2003 (in Beirut, Lebanon). Recently, CMAS has amalgamated all of the World Championships for the sports that it governs into one event, the World Underwater Games. The First World Underwater Games were held in 2007 in Bari, Italy. Most of the results for these Championships can be found on the CMAS website [http://www.cmas.org/] .

The sport is also one of those included in the World Games, South East Asia Games and in several multi-sport and military international events. Since 1988 (San Francisco, California, USA), the sport had been included in the World Corporate Games but has not been included since the 1992 Games in London, United Kingdom. Sadly, little is available on the Games, other than a short "history list" on the Australian Corporate Games website [http://www.corporategames.net.au/about/history.shtml] and a brief mention on the Underwater Society of America website [http://www.underwater-society.org/usoahome.html] .

Distribution

It is a fairly widespread sport around the world; Russia, China, France, Greece, Germany and Italy are the main players. However, it can be found in around one hundred countries around the world. Finswimming is found in many Commonwealth countries (see Commonwealth of Nations) including the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and Singapore (see Commonwealth Finswimming Records).

Most countries hold National Championships, many of which are open to international competitors (including the Netherlands, Germany and Belgium).

In the United Kingdom there are around seven finswimming clubs [British Finswimming Association 2008] , mostly in Kent. There is an annual National Short Course (25 m pool) Finswimming Championships in the United Kingdom, which are traditionally held at the Edenbridge Leisure Centre, Edenbridge, Kent. As of 2007, the annual National Long Course (50 m pool) Finswimming Championships have been held; the first being held in Aldershot, Hampshire.

In the United States it is very small but gaining competitors. The major areas of finswimming in the United States include Texas (Houston, including the suburbs of Pasadena and Deer Park) which has the largest concentration of finswimmers in the USA, California (around San Francisco, which is the location of the national headquarters for USA Fin Swimming), Rhode Island (around Providence), and scattered individuals in Florida. The United States has competed at the World Championships sporadically since the early 1980s, achieving very limited success on the international scene. A few competitions are held in the United States, with the last US National Championships being held in California in 1998. Texas hosts three to four meets a year, with participation consisting of Texas finswimmers and those from other countries who live in the southeast Texas area and still train and compete in the sport. They have hosted the majority of the finswimming competitions in the USA for the past 6-8 years. Texas hosts the Texas Open Finswimming Invitational, the Gulf Coast International Finswimming Invitational, along with the Texas State Finswimming Championships every year. In addition they also host 2-3 high school finswimming meets a year. The World Scholar-Athlete Games and the United States Scholar-Athlete Games at the University of Rhode Island have included finswimming competition as a part of their Games program since 1999. The sport is growing in the United States with scattered pockets around the country popping up. However Texas leads the country in the number of finswimmers and competitions. Most finswimming training outside of Texas and California consists of cross training for swimming.

porting appeal and training

Appeal

The main appeal of finswimming is the speed that a competitor can reach. The World record for the 50 m freestyle, Long Course (see World records in swimming), is 21.28 seconds (by Eamon Sullivan of Australia). In finswimming it is 14.19 seconds (for 50 m Apnea by Euvjeny Skorjenko of Russia) (see World finswimming records). This is a 66 % increase in speed over conventional swimming.

Training

Unlike most swimming training programmes, finswimming training tends to be far more specific and more like systems used for track running in athletics. In addition, finswimmers tend to do far more dry-side work, including a huge amount of core stability (as core strength), plyometrics and weight training. Again, this is carried out on a specific basis.

The sport will continue to develop and move forward as more swimmers become involved and knowledgeable about the benefits of training with monofins.

ee also

* World finswimming records
* Commonwealth finswimming records

References