While the affect of altitude on physiological variables has been extensively studied Jordi Mercade, Raul Arellano, and Belen Feriche have been pioneers in considering the effect of altitude on fundamental technical variables in addition to the physiological effects.  Stroke frequency increased and stroke length decreased at altitude. Given the influence of altitude on fundamental technique variables coaches need to be aware of the need to enable swimmers to adapt their swimming techniques during the first days of altitude training before acclimatisation occurs.

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Mercade, J.J., Arellano, R, and Feriche, B. (2006). Effects of acute moderate altitude exposure on physiological and technical performance in front crawl swimming.  In J.P. Vilas-Boas, F. Alves, A. Marques (eds.) Xth International Symposium on Biomechanics and Medicine in Swimming, University of Porto, Porto, June, 2006. pp.148-150.

Soultanakis, Mandaloufas and Platanou studies the dietary habits of six male and ten female swimmers and found that many had diets that were deficient in carbohydrates. This can lead to lowered training and competition performance and, in the case of female swimmers, menstrual abnormalities. Filling up on proeteins does not provide the energy for swimming and also may tax the system unnecessarily. Also, the over-consumption of supplements may mask the real deficiencies and not meet the real requirements of the swimmer.

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Soultanakis, H., Mandaloufas, M., and Platanau, T. (2006). Energy expenditure and food intake of competitive swimmers during training.  In J.P. Vilas-Boas, F. Alves, A. Marques (eds.) Xth International Symposium on Biomechanics and Medicine in Swimming, University of Porto, Porto, June, 2006. pp.317-319.

Jose Sanchez and colleagues studied the pike start of 177 elite junior  and pre-junior swimmers Spanish swimmers. During entry 66% of the swimmers had their heads up too much and 55% flexed their knees causing unnecessary loss of speed.

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Sanchez, J.A., Maanon, R., Mon, J., Gonzalez, S., and Arellano, R. (2006). Start technique qualitative evaluation of international junior and pre-junior swimmers: An analysis of error frequency. In J.P. Vilas-Boas, F. Alves, A. Marques (eds.) Xth International Symposium on Biomechanics and Medicine in Swimming, University of Porto, Porto, June, 2006. pp.250-252.

Creatine supplementation may not adversely affect physiological functions but it doesn’t seem to improve performance either. This was the conclusion of Takashisa Shiraki and Takeo Nomura from their double blind study of twelve elite male swimmers with six taking high dose long-term oral creatine supplements and six taking placebos.

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Shiraki, T., and Nomura, T. (2006). Does the long-term oral creatine supplementation improve repeated sprint performance in elite swimmers?. In J.P. Vilas-Boas, F. Alves, A. Marques (eds.) Xth International Symposium on Biomechanics and Medicine in Swimming, University of Porto, Porto, June, 2006. pp.172-175.