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Each month, Swimming World will partner with TritonWear to bring you our Swimmer of the Month. This month, we feature Sydney Pickrem.
Sydney’s Metrics
We analyzed Sydney Pickrem’s 200y IM metrics from the 2017 and 2018 NCAA Championships to see how her metrics changed over time and how these changes impacted her overall performance.
Stroking Metrics
Speed
At the 2018 NCAA, Sydney swam every stroke except for breaststroke at a faster speed compared the the previous year. Her backstroke saw the most improvement, while her breaststroke was just two hundredths of a second slower.
Overall, she swam a faster 200 IM in 2018, dropping her final time by almost a full second and moving up to earn a spot at the podium.
Stroke rate and DPS
In 2018, Sydney Pickrem lowered her DPS and increased her stroke rate in butterfly, backstroke, and freestyle compared to 2017. In breaststroke, she lengthened her DPS and slowed down her stroke rate.
On average, compared to her competitors, Sydney produced higher DPS at a slower stroke rate across all strokes.
Sydney Pickrem Stroke Index
The drop in Sydney’s DPS in butterfly, backstroke, and freestyle. translated into lower stroke index (i.e. lower efficiency) in 2018. Conversely, her breaststroke efficiency increased with the increase in her breaststroke DPS.
On average, Sydney Pickrem swam a more efficient IM than her competitors in both years.
Transition Metrics
Turn Time and Time Underwater
Overall, Sydney improved her turn times at the 2018 NCAA.
She also lengthened her time underwater across all 4 strokes. On average, she spent less time underwater than her competitors in both 2017 and 2018.
Takeaways
Better efficiency doesn’t necessarily mean faster speed.
In 2018, Sydney’s stroke index decreased in fly, back, and free. Interestingly, these were the legs of the IM where she swam faster than she did previously.
Every improvement counts towards better results.
Sydney Pickrem didn’t swim every lap of the 200 faster in 2018, and she increased her speed more in some strokes than others. But these improvements, combined with quicker turns resulted in a faster time and a podium finish.
To read more about Sydney and her stroke index, check out TritonWear’s Swimmer of the Month page. Check it out to learn more of Sydney’s metrics here.
Check the TritonWear previous recipients here.
Congrats Sydney! ?
Great job Sydney Pickrem!!!
Well done Sydney; keep up the great work! Go Sydney; Go Canada!