New-York tribune., 1905-07-16
NEW WAY TO SWIM
The "Cra7gP' Is the Fastest Stule
Yet Discovered.


In the opinion Of many persons the swimming
race Is to the strong. As they watch the brown
shoulders of the expert swimmer surging through
the water. making as much pother as a shovel
nosed yacht, the more fmpressionable excIaina
What magnificent muscles he has"
But strength does not win alone. The styls
of sTroke also has something to do with the sue
cess of swimmer. For example. a new stroke
which is said to produce greater speed than any
other has recently been introduced at the New
York Athletic Club by Gus Sundstrom. the
swimming expert 1t is aptly or inaptIy. ac-
cording to ones point OF view called the
Crawl" The stroke apparently originated in
Australia Its introduction in New-York. ac-
cording to Mr. Sundstrom, came about in this
way:
I'VE have every year in February in the
swimming pool Of the New-York Athletic Club
a match with the BroOkline Club, Of Boston
Last year they beat US four out OF the six
events. so 1 began to study up on the crawl
1 practised in the tank when no one was around
and when I was certain that I could make
second better time in twenty-five yards with IL
than had done before 1 invited a number OF
people to come and watch me. I had them time
me, and I did the distance in 113-5 seconds
The worlds record is u ID seconds. OF course
that record doesn't stand. for the timekeepers
were not official Well taught some Of the
swimmers the crawl and we had something
UP our sleeves when We met the BrookIiae men
this year. -Four of our men had done u Is
seconds or better in practice with the new
stroke. When the match came of we won
everything. In the 200-yard relay race We beat
the record made by the BrookIine team the
year before by seven seconds"
1t will therefore be seen that the stroke called
the crawl is inaptIy named from the point
OF view Of speed. Judging from Mr.. Sundstrorn's
testimony, the men who use It travel through
the water like motor boats. The stroke, if wag-
Cling the feet and paving the water constitute
a stroke, certainly suggests crawling in appear
ance, and from this point of view it is rightly
named. In the crawl the feet are moved
backward and forward upon the ankles as
hinges, the feet moving alternately and as fast
as possible. In the arms, circular or continuous
movement has been developed Up to the time
Of the discovery Of the CRAWL the only move
ments developed for the legs in swimming were
the froghke, spasmodic kick and variations IN
the Crawl the legs lie stretched astern. with
no movement above the knee and little above thu
ankle.
The arm movement of the Crawl is a u70dl-
dcation Of the well known "trudgeon,'' or double
overarm stroke. Instead. however, OF throwing
the arms forward out OF the water aItern~t tefy
to the fun length, the arms are cIooEed until
they suggest the plucked wing of chicken. and
dipped smartly almost in trent of the face They
are dipped as rapidly as the swimmer can bring
them forward from the finish OF the stroke and
without regard to the movement OF the feet
Other arm strokes can also be used with the
Crawl foot movement Mr. Sundstrom has de-
Fised a combination which he calls the wind
mill" With the waggling feet he combines the
@trudgeon' swimming on his back He says he
secures even greater speed with this The value
'f the Crawl lies in the fact that it throws the
body en- top OF the water and thus reduces re-
distance.
The tendency In swimming for speed in this
,ountry appears to be toward securing an even.
continuous movement. the limbs alternating in
uch u way that there Is no cessation OF prog
esA In Germany swimming seems 70 have