Aquatic timing systems are designed to automate the process of timing, judging, and scoring in competitive swimming and other aquatic sports, including diving, water polo, and synchronized swimming. [1] These systems are also used in the training of athletes, and many add-on products have been developed to assist with this process. [2] Some aquatic timing systems manufacturers include Colorado Time Systems, Swiss Timing (Omega), Daktronics and Seiko.
Prior to the 1950s, competitive swimmers relied on the sound of a starting pistol to start their races and mechanical stopwatches to record their times at the end of a race. A limitation of analog timekeeping was the technology's inability to reliably record times accurately below one tenth (0.1) of a second. [3] In 1967, the Omega company of Switzerland developed the first electronic timing system for swimming that attempted to coordinate the physical the recorded time. This new system placed contact pads (known as Touchpad) in each lane of the pool, calibrated in such a fashion that the incidental water movement of the competitors or wave action did not trigger the pad sensors; the pad was only activated by the touch of the swimmer at the end of the race. [4]
Meet Managers are programs created to automate the process of generating results and can be either downloadable or web applications. They are normally sold to clubs and can also be connected to the timing system to obtain timing information automatically. [5] Some meet manager developers include Active Hy-Tek, Splash Software, SwimTopia, NBC Sports and Bigmidia.
The Aquatics events at the 2006 Commonwealth Games were held at the Melbourne Sports and Aquatic Centre (MSAC) and were divided into 3 separate disciplines, with medals awarded in 54 events:
Daktronics, Inc. is an American company based in Brookings, South Dakota, that designs, manufactures, sells, and services video displays, scoreboards, digital billboards, dynamic message signs, sound systems, and related products. It was founded in 1968 by two South Dakota State University professors.
Malin Therese Alshammar is a Swedish swimmer who has won three Olympic medals, 25 World Championship medals, and 43 European Championship medals. She is a specialist in short distances races in freestyle and butterfly. She is coached by former Swedish swimmer Johan Wallberg. She is the first female swimmer and the third overall to participate in six Olympic Games.
Fully automatic time is a form of race timing in which the clock is automatically activated by the starting device, and the finish time is either automatically recorded, or timed by analysis of a photo finish. The system is commonly used in track and field as well as athletic performance testing, horse racing, dog racing, bicycle racing, rowing and auto racing. In these fields a photo finish is used. It is also used in competitive swimming, for which the swimmers themselves record a finish time by touching a touchpad at the end of a race. In order to verify the equipment, or in case of failure, a backup system is usually used in addition to FAT.
Yuliya Andreyevna Yefimova is a Russian competitive swimmer. She is the Russian record holder in the 200 metre individual medley, 50 metre breaststroke, 100 metre breaststroke, and 200 metre breaststroke. After making her Olympic debut in 2008, she went on to win the bronze medal in the 200 metre breaststroke in 2012, and silver medals in the 100 metre and 200 metre breaststroke in 2016. She is a six-time World Champion, winning the 50 metre breaststroke in 2009 and 2013, the 100 metre breaststroke in 2015, and the 200 metre breaststroke in 2013, 2017, and 2019. In 2019, she became the first woman to win the 200 metre breaststroke at a FINA World Aquatics Championships three times. She is a former world record holder in the long course 50 metre breaststroke. She has won 109 medals, including 48 gold medals, at Swimming World Cups.
This article includes the world record progression for the 4×100 metres medley relay, and it shows the chronological history of world record times in that competitive swimming event. The 4×100 metres medley relay is a medley race in which each of four swimmers on a team swims a 100-metre leg of the relay, each swimming a different stroke, in the following sequence:
Allison Rodgers Schmitt is an American competition swimmer who specializes in freestyle events. She is a four-time Olympian and a ten-time Olympic medalist.
Scott Tyler Clary is an American former competition swimmer and Olympic gold medalist. In his Olympic debut at the 2012 Summer Olympics, Clary won gold in the 200-meter backstroke in Olympic record time. In total, he won sixteen medals in major international competitions: three gold, eight silver, and five bronze spanning the Summer Olympics, the FINA World Championships, the Pan Pacific Championships, and the Pan American Games.
The swimming portion of the 2011 FINA World Championships was held July 24–31 at the Shanghai Oriental Sports Center in Shanghai, China. Swimming is one of five aquatic disciplines at the championships.
The American team competed at the 2011 World Aquatics Championships in Shanghai, China from July 16 to July 31. The United States topped the gold medal count in the competition with 17 golds and finished the competition with 32 total medals, behind China's 36. 16 of the 17 gold medals came from the swimming competition and one came from the open water swimming competition. Individually, Michael Phelps won the most overall medals in the competition with seven. Ryan Lochte won the most gold medals among the male competitors with five and finished the competition with six medals total.
Conor James Dwyer is a former American competition swimmer and Olympic gold medalist. He competed in freestyle and medley events, and won a gold medal as a member of the winning U.S. 4×200-meter freestyle relay team at the 2012 Summer Olympics. In total, he has won seventeen medals in major international competitions: nine gold, six silver, and two bronze spanning the Summer Olympics, the FINA World Championships, the Pan Pacific Championships, and the Pan American Games. Dwyer placed second at the 2016 US Olympic Swimming Trials in the 400m freestyle.
Abbigail "Abbey" Weitzeil is an American competition swimmer specializing in sprint freestyle. A multiple time Olympic medalist, she won a gold medal in the 4x100-meter medley relay for swimming in the preliminary heats and a silver medal in the 4x100-meter freestyle relay at the 2016 Rio Olympics. At the 2020 Summer Olympics she won a silver medal in the 4x100-meter medley relay and a bronze medal in the 4x100-meter freestyle relay, swimming in the final of both events. She is the American record holder in the 50-yard freestyle and is part of the American Record in the 4x100-meter freestyle relay.
Jordan Matthew Wilimovsky is an American competitive swimmer who specializes in open water swimming. At the 2015 World Championships in Kazan, Russia, Wilimovsky won the gold medal in the 10 km open water event. Wilimovsky won by a margin of 12.1 seconds over the second-place finisher Ferry Weertman of the Netherlands. At the 2016 Summer Olympics, Wilimovsky competed in both pool swimming and open water swimming events, becoming the first American to swim in both types of events at one Olympic Games.
Lillia Camille King is an American swimmer who specializes in breaststroke. At the 2016 Summer Olympics, she won the gold medal in the 100-meter breaststroke competition and also won a gold medal in the 4x100 meter medley relay, in which she swam the breaststroke leg. At the 2020 Summer Olympics, King won a silver medal in the 4x100 meter medley relay for her efforts in the prelims, the silver medal in the 200-meter breaststroke, and the bronze medal in the 100-meter breaststroke. At the 2024 Summer Olympics, she won a gold medal in the 4x100 meter medley relay, where she swam the breaststroke leg. She is the current world record holder in the long course 100-meter breaststroke.
Switzerland competed at the 2017 World Aquatics Championships in Budapest, Hungary from 14 July to 30 July.
Claire Curzan is an American competitive swimmer and Olympian. Specialising in multiple events, she earned an Olympic silver medal in the 4×100 meter medley relay in the 2020 Summer Olympics by swimming the preliminary butterfly leg. She holds junior world records in the long course 50 meter freestyle and 100 meter butterfly and the short course 50 meter butterfly and 100 meter butterfly. She also holds American records in the short course 50 meter backstroke and 50 meter butterfly, and formerly held the American record in the 100 yard butterfly. She currently swims for the Virginia Cavaliers.
Victoria "Torri" Huske is an American competitive swimmer and the reigning Olympic champion in the 100-meter butterfly. She holds world records in two relays: the 4x100-meter medley and 4x100-meter mixed medley. She is the former American record holder in the 50- and 100-meter butterfly.
The Abu Dhabi Aquatics Festival was a FINA-organized international aquatics competition spanning the disciplines of open water swimming, diving, and high diving, which took place from 15 to 20 December 2021 on Yas Island in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. It was held correspondent to the 2021 FINA World Short Course Swimming Championships. The festival was the first time competitions in the three disciplines are being conducted at the same time as and in conjunction with a FINA World Short Course Swimming Championships. In addition to sporting competitions, an interactive village is being provided for festival attendees. Coverage of the aquatics festival on television and via online streaming was provided on six continents with news agencies including ESPN (Americas), SuperSport (Africa), and beIN Sports (Asia) providing international coverage of the high diving competitions.
Zhier Fan is an American competitive swimmer. He is a world junior record holder in the 4×50-meter mixed medley relay. At the 2022 Junior Pan Pacific Championships, he won gold medals in the 100-meter breaststroke, 4×100-meter medley relay, 4×100-meter mixed medley relay, and won the B-final of the 200-meter breaststroke.