Research
Research
Swimetrica tests training theories against its own data and publishes the result regardless of which way it points, with the population and interval attached.
Swimetrica holds adjusted results from 31 federations, 2009–2026, so that claims about how swimmers develop can be checked against a population larger than a squad.
Each article below states what was tested, on what population, with what result, and what the result does not license.
- 20 August 2026 · Finding
Does early specialisation predict senior performance?
A widely repeated coaching claim is that swimmers who narrow to one stroke before 14 reach higher senior peaks. Tested against 1 204 careers, the 95% interval spans −0.21 s to 0.39 s — wide enough to include both a real benefit and a real cost.
- 14 August 2026 · Finding
Does a block of altitude training precede faster 100 m sprint times?
A cohort comparison of 1 839 matched swimmer-seasons, 2019–2026. Before matching, seasons with an altitude block improved 0.21 s more than seasons without one. After matching on prior improvement rate, age, event, sex category and programme, the estimated difference is −0.03 s, 95% interval −0.11 to +0.05 — which includes zero.
- 2 June 2026 · Finding
Does an estimated club effect persist after a head-coach change?
Across 214 programmes in 19 federations, the estimated club component at 24 months after a head-coach change is between 0.31 and 0.68 of its value before the change, 95% interval, coach effect estimator v1.4.