Swimming Rules & Regulations

Competitive swimming is a sport that combines technique, speed, and endurance across four primary strokes: freestyle, backstroke, breaststroke, and butterfly. Each stroke has specific rules that swimmers must adhere to in order to ensure fairness and maintain the integrity of the sport. As of 2024, governing bodies like World Aquatics and USA Swimming have made updates to these rules to enhance competition and safety. This guide provides an overview of the current regulations for each stroke and event, ensuring that both new and seasoned swimmers are well-prepared for the competitive swimming environment.

Competitive Swimming

Competitive swimming features four primary strokes: freestyle, backstroke, breaststroke, and butterfly. Swimmers compete in various distances, from 25 yards or meters to as long as 1600 yards. Each stroke has specific rules governing how swimmers must move through the water.

Freestyle

Freestyle, also known as the “crawl,” offers the most flexibility in terms of technique and is typically the fastest stroke. The key rules are that swimmers cannot push off the bottom or pull on the lane lines and must touch the far wall with some part of their body. Freestyle races usually involve a forward-facing dive from a starting block or poolside, and swimmers may use either open or flip turns during multi-lap events. To finish, swimmers must touch the wall with one hand.

Backstroke

Backstroke is similar to freestyle but is swum on the back. Swimmers must stay on their backs, with the exception of a flip turn during multi-lap races, where they may rotate onto their stomachs for one arm pull before executing the turn. The race starts with swimmers already in the water, holding the wall or starting block, and finishes with the swimmer remaining on their back until touching the wall.

Breaststroke

Breaststroke, often referred to as the “frog stroke,” requires synchronized arm and leg movements on a horizontal plane. The swimmer’s head must break the surface with each stroke, and the legs must execute a frog-like kick, with toes pointed outward. A single pull-down and a dolphin kick are allowed at the start of each lap. Swimmers must touch the wall with both hands simultaneously and on the same horizontal plane at the end of each lap.

Butterfly

Butterfly involves a simultaneous over-the-water arm recovery and a dolphin kick. Both arms and legs move together, with the arms pulling underwater and recovering simultaneously over the water. Swimmers are allowed one dolphin kick at the start and one with each arm pull. Races start with a forward-facing dive, and swimmers must touch the wall with both hands simultaneously to finish each lap.

Individual Medley (IM)

The individual medley, or IM, is a race where swimmers compete in all four strokes, each covering one-fourth of the total distance. The order is butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke, and freestyle. Swimmers must follow the rules for each stroke during their respective segments and must finish each segment with the appropriate touch: two-hand touches for butterfly and breaststroke, and one-hand for freestyle.

Relays

In relay events, four swimmers form a team, each swimming one-fourth of the race. In freestyle relays, all team members swim freestyle, while in medley relays, each swimmer swims a different stroke in the order of backstroke, breaststroke, butterfly, and freestyle. The first swimmer in a medley relay starts in the water for the backstroke leg, while the others may start from the blocks with a "rolling start." Swimmers must not leave the block until their teammate touches the wall.

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More Resources

These rules are a general summary and can vary depending on the governing body for each meet. For more detailed rules, refer to the following resources:

World Aquatics Swimming Rules
USA Swimming Rules
FINA Masters Swimming Rules
Channel Swimming Rules & Regulations