Modelling, Computing and Sport

Abstract

This article presents a computational model for propulsion generation in front crawl swimming. The obtained results show close agreement with directly measured forces acting on a computer controlled robotic arm that kinematically simulated a planar arm stroke. The model was applied to real-life swimming strokes and demonstrated that the three-dimensionality improves efficiency of the stroke and that contrary to popular belief the arm does not need to be fully extended while swimming.