The backstroke start is the only start in swimming where you begin in the water and still have to get out of it. You hang off a wall, lift your body clear of the surface, and throw yourself backward.
I swam the 200 individual medley at two Olympic Games for Brazil and won it at the 2015 Pan American Games in Toronto in 1:57.06. The medley never gave me one of these: the order is butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke, freestyle, so the backstroke leg begins at a turn, never at a signal. Swimmers who race backstroke get one per race, and it sets up the first 15 metres.
How do you do a backstroke start?
Feet on the wall under the water, hands on the grips, pull your chest toward your hands while your hips lift clear, then push backward and downward and arch over the surface into one hole. The US Masters Swimming backstroke starts guide sets the order at the whistles: you "place your feet onto the wall", then "pull yourself up into position while pressing your legs into the wall."
The guide's rule of thumb for the lift: "Typically, the higher you can get out of the water, the better." Anything still submerged at take-off is being held back.
The direction of the push is what most swimmers get wrong: "For a good start, you must push both backward and downward." Backward alone leaves you low and flat.
Where do your feet and hands go on the wall?
Feet about shoulder width and as close to the surface as you can hold them, hands on the grips. The article five key elements of a good backstroke start gives the stance: "Your feet should be about as wide as your shoulders and as close to the top of the water as possible." If your pool has a wedge, one condition goes with it: "If you're using a backstroke starting wedge, remember that your toes must be touching the wall."
For the hands, the guide notes that "most use the handles on the block, which allow for a higher lift", and that "placing your hands slightly farther apart can be beneficial." Wider hands give the lift a broader base.
How much should your knees be bent?
Around 90 degrees is the usual number, and it is a starting point, not a setting. The five key elements article puts it as "Your knees should be bent at around 90 degrees, give or take."
Then test it, because the research gives no single answer. A study of the setup position compared "one with the knees maximally flexed, and one with the knees less flexed" across ten swimmers: "There was no overall difference in time to 10 m between the two conditions (p = 0.36, dz = 0.12)." Individuals were not identical, though: "but some participants showed differences as large as 0.12 s in time to 10 m between start conditions."
The authors' advice is the honest one: "Coaches should assess athletes individually to determine which position is optimal."
Should you throw your head back?
The two guides disagree here. The starts guide says to "aggressively arch your head and chest backward to set up for a headfirst entry at the appropriate angle." The five key elements article says "it's best to avoid leading with the head."
The conflict mostly dissolves once you treat the arch as a whole body shape rather than a neck movement. The article gives the order of operations: "Your upper body must be moving to the opposite end of the pool before you drive with the legs", and asks you to "Keep your neck relaxed." Lead with the chest and shoulders and the arch arrives on its own. If the start shows up in your neck the next morning, you led with your head.
What should the entry look like?
One hole, back arched, deep enough to set up a streamline. The guide states the target: "The goal for your entry is to have your entire body pass through a single point in the water." The five key elements article agrees: "Arch your back as your hands, head, hips, and feet all go through the same hole in the water."
Depth belongs to the entry, not to a later decision: "Your entry should provide enough upward motion to get enough depth to set you up for a good underwater streamline." If the position you land in leaks, fix it in streamline and push-off from the wall, then build the kick that makes the depth worth staying in with underwater dolphin kick.
Does the backstroke ledge make you faster?
It lets you set your feet higher, and past that the published evidence is thinner than the hardware suggests. The guide tells you how to use one: "This device is under the waterline; adjust it to whatever depth is most comfortable for you", and "Positioning it higher helps you lift more of your body out of the water before the start."
What I will not give you is a time saving, because the literature does not support a clean one. The Backstroke Swimming Start: State of the Art reports "There was no single consensus for defining phase descriptions", and that "the phase definitions used in analysing backstroke starts are inconsistent and unclear."
Set the ledge where you can hold a high, loaded position, and judge it against your own 15 metre splits.
How does SwimRead read this part of your swimming?
It does not read starts or backstroke, and you should know that before filming one. The SwimRead home page states that "The current beta analyzes freestyle filmed from the side of the pool", and that "Backstroke, breaststroke, butterfly, underwater footage, starts, and turns are not supported analysis modes in this beta."
What it does read is your freestyle. The page asks you to "Aim for 10 seconds of continuous freestyle", filmed "in landscape from the side, with the whole body visible". From there, "On-device pose detection estimates up to 33 body landmarks in sampled video frames", and it stops short of a verdict, since "These estimates are not validated technique grades."
On this start you are your own analyst. Film from the side with the wall in frame, then scrub to two frames: your feet leaving the wall, and your hands touching the water. Your hips should be clear of the surface in the first, and everything should be chasing your hands through one point in the second.
What should you drill this week?
- Hip launches. The backstroke start drills page says "Hip launches teach you how to push hard."
- Toe-touch starts. They "teach you how to push down and hard into the wall, so that you go up and out over the surface".
- Back dives. "A fundamental aspect of the backstroke start is that it is a backward dive into the water."
- Armless back dives. "The goal is to project over the water and enter cleanly with just your head."
Do start work early in a session, in the deep end, with a coach watching. Then time 25s from a backstroke start against 25s from a push in my free swim pace calculator: the gap is your start. The forward version is in the racing dive start from the block, and the stroke it feeds into is in how to swim backstroke faster.
SwimRead is free while in beta, and paid plans will come later with beta testers told before anything changes. For a reading of your freestyle, join the beta and leave your email for an invitation as beta spots open.