January 30, 2020, 10:23 am | Read time: 3 minutes

Why do a flip turn at all? Freestyle is the fastest swimming technique, and the flip turn is the fastest turning technique (efficiency!). It’s also extremely elegant: Do you remember visiting the pool and admiring people who used this technique? We do too.

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In the past, swimmers changed direction in the pool with an open turn: touching the pool edge with one hand, taking a deep breath, and powerfully pushing off with both legs. To save time, the flip turn was developed. For example, someone swimming 100 meters in a 25-meter pool and doing three flip turns saves one to 1.5 seconds per turn–up to 4.5 seconds in total!

This turning technique is the final step to complete freestyle swimming, the cherry on top for all freestyle experts. (By the way, you can learn to swim freestyle in four easy steps in this video:)

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Learn the Flip Turn in 4 Steps

Back to the flip turn. Its movement sequence, initiated with a strong arm pull a few meters before the wall, consists of the following steps:

1. Head movement that initiates the roll, with the chin tucked to the chest (you can use the T-bar on the pool floor as a reference point)
2. Making the body small by pulling the legs in to complete the rotation as quickly as possible;
3. in this bent body position, a 180-degree rotation occurs along with a strong push-off from the pool edge with both feet; the head is between the outstretched arms, and the feet are extended
4. in this phase, the body rotates around its axis back into the freestyle position.

Professional swimmer Toni Embacher, six-time German champion in butterfly, demonstrates the necessary technique step by step in the video.

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You’ll find out how much momentum you can gain (with some practice) thanks to the flip turn on the next lap! Pro tip for beginners: practice the movement sequence first without pushing off the wall. So, get in the water!
Note: These video recordings were made at the Luftschiffhafen Potsdam sports park.