Reference
Every metric behind a Swim Analytics race report — 50 entries, grouped by what they actually measure.
What is it?The time from the starting signal until the swimmer fully leaves the block. In backstroke, until the feet leave the wall.
Why it mattersShows how quickly you react at the start of the race, and how much time you can gain before you even enter the water.
What is it?The moment the hands leave the starting block after the signal.
Why it mattersLets you analyze how your start movement begins and how you coordinate your arms with the rest of your body.
What is it?The moment the rear foot leaves the block.
Why it mattersHelps you understand how you use your back leg to start the drive and accelerate your body forward.
What is it?The moment the front foot — usually the last point of contact — leaves the block.
Why it mattersLets you study how you finish applying force against the block before entering the flight phase.
What is it?The accumulated time from the start signal to the water-entry point used as the analysis reference.
Why it mattersLets you see how long the whole sequence takes — reacting, driving off the block, flying, and starting your entry into the water.
What is it?The time the swimmer spends fully airborne, from leaving the block to beginning water entry.
Why it mattersLets you separate the quality of the jump from reaction speed, and study the flight phase on its own.
What is it?The horizontal distance covered from the block to the water-entry point.
Why it mattersShows how much ground you cover before entering the water, and whether your drive is producing an effective jump.
What is it?The angle at which the body enters the water after the jump.
Why it mattersA clean entry angle sets up a smoother transition into the underwater phase. Too flat or too steep, and it creates drag and loses speed.
What is it?The moment the entire body is fully below the water's surface.
Why it mattersLets you see how the entry finishes and exactly when the underwater phase of the start actually begins.
What is it?The number of dolphin kicks performed during the underwater phase of a start or turn.
Why it mattersShows your underwater strategy, and whether you hold the same kick count through the whole race or it changes as fatigue sets in.
What is it?The point where the underwater phase ends and the transition into surface swimming begins.
Why it mattersOne of the most important points in the race — it's where the speed built off the start or turn connects to your first strokes.
What is it?The race time at which the swimmer reaches breakout.
Why it mattersShows how long you spend before starting surface swimming, and lets you compare different underwater strategies.
What is it?The distance from the wall to the point where the swimmer reaches breakout.
Why it mattersShows how much you get out of your underwater phase before you start swimming, and lets you compare starts and turns across different races.
What is it?The average speed from the start signal to breakout.
Why it mattersSummarizes how effective the whole opening phase of the race was — reaction, jump, entry, and underwater combined.
Note — Doesn't represent the exact speed of your first stroke.
What is it?The average speed from water entry to breakout.
Why it mattersIsolates your underwater performance, so you can see whether you hold or lose the speed generated off the start.
What is it?How the swimmer behaves between breakout and the 15m checkpoint.
Why it mattersShows whether you're converting underwater speed into swimming speed, or losing it during your first strokes.
What is it?The accumulated time recorded at specific points in the pool — typically 15m, 25m, 35m, 45m, and the wall.
Why it mattersLets us reconstruct your race with far more precision than official splits alone.
What is it?The time taken to cover the distance between two checkpoints. Example: 25m → 35m.
Why it mattersPinpoints exactly where you're gaining or losing time within each length.
What is it?The time for an official section of the race, such as each 50m or 100m.
Why it mattersHelps you understand how you distribute pace and effort across the whole event.
What is it?How you distribute your speed across the race.
Why it mattersReveals whether you go out too fast, how well you hold your pace, when fatigue sets in, and how much you have left to speed up at the finish.
What is it?The exact moment the swimmer reaches the wall.
Why it mattersServes as the reference point for everything that happens from the touch to the next breakout.
What is it?The race time at which the swimmer returns to surface swimming after the turn.
Why it mattersLets you compare how long each transition takes and detect whether your turns break down as fatigue builds.
What is it?The time elapsed from wall contact to breakout.
Why it mattersSummarizes the whole turn transition — wall, push-off, streamline position, underwater, and the drive back into swimming.
What is it?The distance covered from the wall to breakout after the turn.
Why it mattersShows how much you're getting out of each underwater phase, and whether your strategy stays consistent through the race.
What is it?The number of dolphin kicks performed after each turn.
Why it mattersLets you study whether your kick count and underwater strategy hold up as fatigue increases.
What is it?The average speed from the wall to breakout.
Why it mattersLets you objectively compare the quality of different turns within the same race.
What is it?A dedicated analysis of the last five meters of the race.
Why it mattersStudies a zone that often decides races: breathing, speed, stroke count, rate, and how you set up the final touch.
What is it?The number of strokes used to complete the final meters.
Why it mattersShows whether you reach the wall cleanly, or whether you're forced to shorten, stretch, or otherwise disrupt your last few strokes.
What is it?The arm used to complete the final touch, when relevant to the stroke being analyzed.
Why it mattersLets you study and train how you organize your last strokes to reach the wall without losing speed.
What is it?The number of strokes taken during surface swimming.
Why it mattersShows how many strokes it takes you to cover a distance, and whether your speed comes from rate, distance per stroke, or a mix of both.
What is it?The number of strokes accumulated by the time you reach each checkpoint.
Why it mattersLets you see how your stroke pattern changes through the race, and connect every increase in stroke count to time, speed, and fatigue.
What is it?The time it takes the swimmer to complete one stroke cycle, expressed in seconds per cycle.
Why it mattersShows how your stroke rhythm changes through the race, and flags accelerations, slowdowns, or changes caused by fatigue.
What is it?The time taken to complete the reference cycles of the left arm.
Why it mattersLets you analyze how your left side behaves through the race on its own.
What is it?The time taken to complete the reference cycles of the right arm.
Why it mattersLets you analyze how your right side behaves and compare it against the left.
What is it?The comparison between the left and right arm's timing behavior.
Why it mattersFlags differences between your two sides that can be tied to breathing, coordination, technique, or fatigue.
What is it?The difference between one side's tempo and the other's.
Why it mattersHelps detect when your two sides stop behaving the same way, and exactly when in the race that difference shows up.
Note — Not every asymmetry is a problem — it should be read together with the video and the other metrics.
What is it?The number of stroke cycles per minute, calculated from Stroke Tempo: Stroke Rate = 60 ÷ Stroke Tempo.
Why it mattersShows how fast you're turning your stroke cycle over, and how your rate changes as the race goes on.
What is it?The swimmer's estimated position in the pool at each stroke event, reconstructed from breakout, checkpoints, stroke count, and tempo.
Why it mattersTurns a race into a stroke-by-stroke sequence, so you know exactly where each change in rhythm, speed, or distance gained happens.
What is it?The distance covered from one stroke event to the next.
Why it mattersShows how much distance you're getting out of each stroke, and flags when you start covering less ground even while holding or raising your rate.
Note — Swim Analytics' current methodology treats Distance Gained as distinct from Cycle Stroke Length.
What is it?The distance covered in one complete stroke cycle, expressed in meters per cycle.
Why it mattersShows how much distance you get from each full cycle, and how that relates to your Stroke Rate.
What is it?The average speed reached between two checkpoints.
Why it mattersMakes it easy to compare different parts of the race and find where you swim fastest — or where you start slowing down.
What is it?The speed specific to surface swimming.
Why it mattersSeparates the quality of your swimming from the speed you carry over from the start, underwater, or turn.
What is it?An estimate of the swimmer's speed at a specific moment in the stroke-by-stroke reconstruction.
Why it mattersSurfaces speed changes that stay hidden when you only look at 10m, 25m, or 50m averages.
What is it?The highest speed observed within the analyzed section.
Why it mattersShows when you hit top speed, and how long you're able to hold it.
What is it?The drop in speed during a section, or as the race progresses.
Why it mattersPinpoints where the slowdown starts and how much performance you lose between your best moment and the finish.
What is it?A metric that relates swim speed to the distance gained per stroke.
Why it mattersShows how you combine two essential elements of performance — moving fast and covering ground.
Note — Shouldn't be read in isolation as an absolute score of technique or efficiency.
What is it?A reconstruction of the race that analyzes performance stroke by stroke, instead of relying only on averages over large segments.
Why it mattersLets you discover exactly when your rate, distance gained, position, and speed change during a race.
Note — One of the core differences in Swim Analytics' current system — the unit of analysis becomes every stroke or cycle event, with averages kept only as a secondary reference.
What is it?A visual analysis of the swimmer's technique using race video. Can cover body position, head, breathing, hand entry, catch, pull, push, recovery, rotation, kick, coordination, start, underwaters, turns, and finish.
Why it mattersThe data shows you what's happening. The video helps you understand why it's happening, and which technical points can actually be changed.
What is it?A direct, side-by-side comparison between two or more performances.
Why it mattersReveals what actually changed between one race and another, even when the difference in final time is tiny. We can compare start, breakout, times, stroke count, rate, distance gained, speed, turns, and finish.
What is it?Tracking the same swimmer across different competitions and points in the season.
Why it mattersShows not just whether you improved your time, but how you improved it — a better start, a more efficient breakout, a change in rate, more distance per stroke, better turns, or a different race strategy.
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