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Achieving high personal result in swimming requires a good multi-year training plan that is consistent with the optimum age for training initiation, physiological characteristics during the various stages of human growth and development and optimum age for reaching maximum results. Training methods are related to the sensitive periods for different physiological adaptations like increase in stroke volume of the heart, biochemical oxidation processes improvement, muscular hypertrophy, etc. The aims of the study were to find the age range of today's swimming elite in the men 100 m freestyle, the rate of increase in the results over the years before reaching their maximum and the age-related differences. The best results available for 2010-2018 of swimmers within top 100 in the men 100 m freestyle world rankings for 2000-2018 with results made within 2016-2018 were analysed. It was concluded that the optimum age range for best results in the men 100 m freestyle is 20-26 years. Some swimmers can enter the world swimming elite in this event at age 17 and some can achieve maximum results at 28 years of age or even later. The rate of performance improvement in the years before the peak is significantly higher for younger swimmers. The range of four-year improvement immediately prior to achieving the best personal result for all 36 cases analysed is from 0.79 to 12.94%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The critical speed (CS) is known in competitive swimming as the velocity at individual anaerobic threshold, the minimum velocity that elicits maximum oxygen consumption or some velocity between them. It is recommended mainly for prescribing training velocities and evaluating changes in aerobic endurance. However, inconsistency of findings about the exact CS intensity makes coaches avoid this method for endurance monitoring. The aim of this study was to focus on the shortcomings of critical speed concept, which is based on the critical power (CP) concept, and reveal the reasons for the contradictory research results. Studies concerning the essence of the concept, different approaches for obtaining the parameter values, and relations of parameters to physiological indices were reviewed. The use of conventional regression models for describing the swimming distance (velocity) -- time relationship was demonstrated and the possible relation of the obtained critical speed values to physiological indices was analysed theoretically. The best results of two elite swimmers in 50, 100, 200, 400, 800 and 1500 m freestyle were used for examples that demonstrate differences according to the applied methods. The contradictory studies' findings and differences between the parameters values due to the regression model and the exercise trials duration suggest that the differences have mathematical origin and that the statistical parameters do not represent certain physiological indices or exercise intensity, although their values depend to some extend on the aerobic and anaerobic capabilities of the athletes. Critical swimming speed value depends more on the used regression model and trials duration than on the swimmer condition. The linear distance-time model seems to be the most practical for swimming coaches because only two trials can be used and using the slope formula eliminates the need of computer. Trials durations and especially the longer trial duration should be relatively close to the wanted time to exhaustion. Experiments are needed for more precision. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]