Photo Finishes In Open Water Swimming
At the world championships in Roberval, the races are so close that high-speed cameras – used in rowing, track and other sports are utilized by Powerhouse Timing. Even with these high-speed cameras (see below), it still takes time for the officials to sort through the finishes where several swimmers often come barreling into the finish all at once.
Above is an example of a photo-finish picture of a solo swimmer from the women’s 10K world championship race.
“The red line is the evaluation line – or the finish time,” explained Jason Moody of Powerhouse Timing. “There are visual distortions. These arise from different rates of speed. The camera is shooting hundred or thousands of lines per second (frames per second). Because swimmer’s the hand is moving extremely fast, it looks distorted. We are able to use these cameras to a general precision of 1/100th of a second or greater.”Copyright © 2010 by Open Water Source
Southern California native, born 1962, is the creator of the WOWSA Awards, Oceans Seven, Openwaterpedia, Citrus Corps, World Open Water Swimming Association, Daily News of Open Water Swimming, Global Open Water Swimming Conference. He is Chief Executive Officer of KAATSU Global and KAATSU Research Institute. Inductee in the International Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame (Honor Swimmer, Class of 2001) and Ice Swimming Hall of Fame (Honor Contributor - Media, Class of 2019), recipient of the International Swimming Hall of Fame's Poseidon Award (2016), International Swimming Hall of Fame's Irving Davids-Captain Roger Wheeler Memorial Award (2010), USA Swimming's Glen S. Hummer Award (2007, 2010) and Harvard University's John B. Imrie Award (1984). Served on the FINA Technical Open Water Swimming Committee and as Technical Delegate with the 2011 Special Olympics World Summer Games, and 9-time USA Swimming coaching staff. Note: WOWSA only recommends products or services used or recommended by the community. WOWSA does not receive compensation for links or products mentioned on this site or in blog posts. If it does, it will be indicated clearly on that specific post. See WOWSA's privacy policy for more information.
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