What initially appeared to be a timing malfunction turned out to be a very slick strategy by Velimir Stjepanovic of the DC Trident.
A video replay of the men’s 400 free shows that Brendon Smith of the New York Breakers, seen below in lane 2, clearly initiates his flip first at the 100 meter mark, yet it is Velimir Stjepanovic of the DC Trident in lane 7 who receives the +6 bonus points for the split time.
That’s because Stjepanovic slid a very smooth hand touch in before his turn. Possibly the smoothest touch-to-flip we’ve ever seen.
He’s not the first swimmer to do a touch-turn at the 100 meter mark of the 400 free to ensure he gets the extra “split” points. Energy Standard’s Kregor Zirk used this strategy in Match #9, successfully, but in his swim, he does an “open turn,” finishing like a race, pivoting, and going.
Stjepanovic, though, has innovated a brilliant new technique to get the touch without really losing much speed at all.
After the match, Stjepanovic said that it only took him one practice session to really work it out.
“I tested it a few times and did some 50s pace with it just to see how it would play out,” he told SwimSwam. “It worked out pretty well.”
The International Swimming Hall of Fame credits the innovation of the flipturn to Al Vande Weghe at AAU Nationals in 1934, and it was really popularized by University of Texas coach Tex Robertson with Adolph Kiefer ahead of the 1936 Olympics (who used it in the 100 backstroke).
This is very much a case of “what was old is now new again” – when the freestyle flipturn really became popularized, with swimmers like Dawn Fraser using it at the 1956 Olympics, a touch turn was still required before flipping.
Nobody we’ve spoken to is quite sure when the rule changed and no longer required a hand touch before the flip, but swimmers were doing the hand touch at the 1964 Olympics (some were still not doing the flip at all), but by 1968 nobody was doing the hand touch.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JFg4jJudtuU
The touch turn was still required in backstroke until 1991, when FINA changed that rule too.
Watch Video, and see the breakdown, with SwimSwam’s Coleman Hodges:
What’s great about this technique is that it’s not just a sweep of the hand as he flips – he managed to actually get an extension finish, to beat Smith to the wall, and still get into a clean flip. It takes big core strength to pull that off.
Smith still went on to win the race and score the most points (14) while Stjepanovic finished 5th at the final touch, but thanks to his checkpoint win scored the second-most points (10). As DC tries to hold on to their 50-point lead after day 1 of the meet, that extra 2 points he grabbed from his slick move could be crucial, with Iron expected to do well on Thursday.
Team Scores After Day 1
- DC Trident – 277
- Iron – 226.5
- Tokyo Frog Kings – 214.5
- New York Breakers – 193
My 14 yr old demonstrated to me similar hand-first flip turn while doing breast stroke.
I know it is not illegal – someone did it in NCAA breast finals few years ago.
I guess it is just a matter of time until someone executes it so well that it becomes superior to open turn at the top-swimmer level. Maybe ISL is a right place to experiment with it (top swimmers, high level of competition)?
Chetnik move. Been watching Novak.
Respect to stepanovic being crafty. This is from what I’m aware of one of the only benefits to touching the wall before a flip turn when points are involved and the race is close. Not a bad idea at all.
What is new comes from the old. I have to assume that everyone knows that, until sometime in the 50s/60s, you were required to touch a hand to the wall on freestyle turns even if a flip turn followed.
So smart..
People would rather watch the whole race not some stupid sh$t like that
That’s not the point of the video or article.
Then watch the video lmao not that deep
No…. Just… no
Sneaky boi level 1 : Kregor Zirk
Sneaky boi final boss : Velimir Stjepanovic
This is awesome, great coverage by SwimSwam