New rules of fina/airweave swimming world cup series: "pros" and "cons" (based on the competitive experience of Katinka Hossz'u, a multiple Olympic gold medalist, world champion and world record holder)

This article is dedicated to the research of the competitive experience of Katinka Hosszú (Hungary) multiple Olympic gold medalist, world champion and world record holder in Individual Medley. From 2012 to 2016 she repeatedly became the winner of FINA World Cups, European and World Championships, set world records and realized her potential in main competitions of each macro-cycle. The number of competitions affects the consistency of results and helps sportsmen to stay in shape and compete for a long period, which leads to the improvement of results. This performance enhancement within a macro-cycle is statistically related to the total number of competitions, which underlines the importance of quantitative characteristics of competitive experience to achieve the necessary athletic improvement. The study showed that Hosszú's competitive experience has been growing year on year, though that is not the case with the Olympic year of 2016. We can also see the changes in the proportions of distances covered in the competitions using different swimming styles, which led to the changes in the exerted forces in 200 and 400 Individual Medley, and resulted in World Records in 2015 and 2016. New regulations for the organization of FINA/Airwave World Cups set limits on the competitive experience of the leading world swimmers. The article shows both positive and negative sides of such changes.