We’ve got bracket fever here at SwimSwam. After our ISL logo bracket pulled in huge amount of poll numbers, we’re cooking up another bracket, this time to test swimming’s age-old question: which event is hardest?
See also:
- ISL Bracket Challenge: Round 1
- ISL Bracket Challenge: Round 2
- ISL Bracket Challenge: Round 3
- ISL Bracket Challenge Results
Some formatting notes:
- We’re starting with NCAA events for this bracket – so all races are in short course yards.
- We used all the NCAA events we could dig up – in order to come up with a more even 16 team bracket, we included both the 1000 free (used in college dual meets and in Divisions II) and the 100 IM (approved for inclusion in the NCAA, even if it’s not commonly used).
- Still, that’s only 15 events, so one event is going to wind up with a first-round bye.
- We pulled out 8 events as “seeded” events, at the top of each first-round bracket. There’s no perfect way to set up the bracket fairly, but we gave ‘seeds’ to the eight events specifically mentioned in our 2017 series where 25 coaches and 25 swimmers shared what they thought were the hardest events.
- From there, we ordered the 8 seeded events and the 8 unseeded events (including the first round bye) using a random number generator.
Hardest NCAA Event Bracket
Round 1 Polls
Which event is the hardest? Define ‘hardest’ however you wish. Your vote is your own.
200 Breaststroke vs 100 Butterfly
Which event is harder? (short course yards)
- 200 Breaststroke (83%)
- 100 Butterfly (17%)
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200 Butterfly vs 100 Backstroke
Which event is harder? (short course yards)
- 200 Butterfly (94%)
- 100 Backstroke (6%)
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200 Freestyle vs 200 IM
Which event is harder? (short course yards)
- 200 Freestyle (55%)
- 200 IM (45%)
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1650 Freestyle vs 100 Freestyle
Which event is harder? (short course yards)
- 1650 Freestyle (84%)
- 100 Freestyle (16%)
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200 Backstroke vs 1000 Freestyle
Which event is harder? (short course yards)
- 200 Backstroke (53%)
- 1000 Freestyle (47%)
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400 IM vs 100 Breaststroke
Which event is harder? (short course yards)
- 400 IM (96%)
- 100 Breaststroke (4%)
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50 Freestyle vs 100 IM
Which event is harder? (short course yards)
- 50 Freestyle (58%)
- 100 IM (42%)
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The 2 back is awful, last 2 turns hurt like hell
Interesting match-up with 50 free vs 100 IM. The reasoning typically used to suggest 50 free is the hardest event (technical proficiency, no room for error) also applies to 100 IM. I would argue that 100 IM is the most technical event. The race is essentially a series of varied technical elements performed at maximal effort without room for error, especially at the highest level.
It’s hilarious to me that the 1000 Free might be booted in the first round.
There’s a reason why they often put that event on its own separate day/session in the 4 day club championship meets.
Can we just hand the 400 IM the crown?
We tried that, and a bunch of condescending swimmers and coaches told Donna that her opinion doesn’t matter. So, now it’s their chance to prove her wrong. https://staging2.swimswam.com/swim-mom-the-5-toughest-races-in-swimming/
400 IM totally got the easiest bracket. Basically the Duke basketball of swimming.
man, i don’t know. 500 FR got a 1st round bye and then takes on winner of 2 Fr/2IM. I think I like it’s chances, especially if it faces the 2 Free.
I’m assuming we’re using the ‘most grueling/painful’ definition of hardest, not ‘most difficult to perform at 100%’.
I think 50 vs. 100 free was the most difficult choice to make for round 1
I was a 200 backstroker and a distance freestyler, and the 200 back vs the 1,000 is one of the more closer ones in the poll.
I’ve heard all the arguments and have experienced how hard a 200 back is. It’s hard. When it comes down to it when I’m behind the blocks the one I’m fearing more is the 1,000. Hands down. Yeah the 200 back is painful but it’s nothing compared to an intense 40 lap freestyle race.
That is the one where I totally disagree with the voters.
200 back hurts more for me. You HAVE to go to the legs early, there’s just no way around it, so the last 100 hurts a lot. 1000 hurts too, no question, but not in that oxygen debt-y I think I’m going to die sort of way.
I feel like backstroke pain is more muscular and distance free is more oxygen debty
It really depends on how “harder race” is being classified. Harder to swim or harder to prepare for. I think the 200 back is harder to prepare for since 200’s in general are difficult to pace and in backstroke you need to be prepared with more quality underwaters.
In a 1,000, if you are swimming it correctly, it is very difficult. If you just hold a comfortable pace without having an exhausting 100 pace you are just taking too easy. I think a misconception is that distance swimmers are doing that, but the quality distance swimmers aren’t. And a 1,000 isn’t really that long for a true distance swimmer so they should be really pushing it almost the whole… Read more »
You should overrule the random number generator and put the 1650 and the 400IM on opposite sides of the brackett.
Believe it or not, but in our unscientific poll of those 50 swimmers and coaches, the mile didn’t get a lot of votes. If our plan was to separate the most-mentioned events, it would have been 400 IM and 200 fly. But the 200 breast, 200 free, 200 back and even 50 free got mentioned more often than the 1650.
Haha, as someone who swam both the 400IM and 200FL, I’d never want to train for or swim the mile. Too many laps, too much freestyle.
I mean I hated training for the mile, but that’s a different question. Once you’ve trained for it it’s not so bad. I was on a bus at conference championships when my coach asked me Saturday morning if I would rather do 2 breast or the 1650 and I hate to admit it but I was feeling lazy so I picked the 1650.
But, did you also ask them how many of them had actually gone through a season (or years) of training and actually ever seriously raced a 1650? It’s hard to speak about that which you don’t know.
We tried, but all of the milers were still at practice when we reached out. Sprinters were done, showered, and back on their phones.
Well done Braden