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When working with elite swimmers, it is necessaryto determine areas in which small changes can result in improved performances during the pinnacle events each year as a culmination of improvements within the daily training environment. The swimming skills of starts and turns comprise approximately 30% of the total race time in events with distances up to 100m (Thayer and Hay, 1984) indicating the importance of skills to overall race performances. Data from the 2011 World Championships is presented to highlight the percentage of race time spent in the start and turn phases for all events. The starting technique of 48 elite swimmers was investigated to determine the optimal starting position based on the forward leg, width of stance and position of the wedge on the starting block. Ongoing monitoring within the training environment has indicated continued improvements to start times at 15m distances as measured during competitions. Slawson (2010) showed that a 1% improvement in turn times in the 100m and 200m events at the Beijing Olympics would have resulted in changes to the podium positions, highlighting their importance during competitions. The development of a waterproofed turn pressure mat throughout the research enabled information on the position and time on the wall for the separate legs to be measured on 33 university level swimmers. Testing was conducted on all swimmers performing maximal freestyle turns during the initial testing session followed by their preferred stroke during testing the following month. Comparisons were made between the four swimming strokes for parameters measured during the wall contact phase although large standard deviations would indicate the need for larger sample sizes to gain a better understanding of the data. Future research should examine the underwater phase of both the start and turning skills.