Evaluating force–velocity characteristics on dry-land is of the utmost importance in swimming, because higher levels of these bio-motor abilities positively affect in-water performance. However, the wide range of possible technical specializations presents an opportunity for a more categorized approach that has yet to be seized. Therefore, the aim of this study was to identify feasible differences in maximum force–velocity exertion based on swimmers’ stroke and distance specialization. To this scope, 96 young male swimmers competing at the regional level were divided into 12 groups, one for each stroke (butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke, and front crawl) and distance (50 m, 100 m, and 200 m). They performed two single pull-up tests, 5-min before and after competing in a federal swimming race. We assessed force (N) and velocity (m/s) exertion via linear encoder. There were no significant differences between pre-post maximum force–velocity exertions, despite the decreasing trend. Force-parameters highly correlated with each other and with the swimming performance time. Moreover, both force (t = −3.60, p < 0.001) and velocity (t = −3.90, p < 0.001) were significant predictors of swimming race time. Sprinters (both 50 m and 100 m) of all strokes could exert significantly higher force–velocity compared to 200 m swimmers (e.g., 0.96 ± 0.06 m/s performed by sprinters vs. 0.66 ± 0.03 m/s performed by 200 m swimmers). Moreover, breaststroke sprinters presented significantly lower force–velocity compared to sprinters specialized in the other strokes (e.g., 1047.83 ± 61.33 N performed by breaststroke sprinters vs. 1263.62 ± 161.23 N performed by butterfly sprinters). This study could provide the foundation for future research regarding the role of stroke and distance specializations in modeling swimmers’ force–velocity abilities, thus influencing paramount elements for specific training and improvement towards competitions.

The purpose of this study was to elucidate whether a specific approach regarding active swimming recovery could better promote psycho-physiological recovery right after competing in a high-level swimming race. To achieve this, we recruited 50 national level youth swimmers, randomly and equally assigning them to two groups, named “experimental” and “coach prescribed”. Each group performed a specific post-competition recovery protocol, consisting of different swimming paces, rest times, self-management of the exercises. We gathered data about blood lactate (BL), heart rate (HR), and rate of perceived exertion (RPE) at two different moments, the first moment right after the swimming competition (named post-competition phase), the second moment right after swimming the respective recovery protocol assigned (named post-recovery phase). A mixed MANOVA with Tukey HSD post-hoc analysis revealed no significant differences between the experimental and coach-prescribed groups in BL, HR, and RPE at the post-competition phase. At the post-recovery phase, however, the experimental group presented lower BL levels than the coach-prescribed group (2.40 ± 1.18 vs. 4.29 ± 2.07 mmol/L, p < 0.05). Finally, we found no interaction of swimming race ranking on recovery capacities. We conclude that for immediate improvement of BL in a wide range of high-level swimmers, an efficient recovery protocol should consist of several paces, high volumes, fixed and short rest times, whereas the widely popular self-managed, lower intensity approach does not seem as equally effective. Our study advances the development of novel recommendations for optimizing immediate fatigue management in competitive swimming.