By Olivier Poirier-Leroy on SwimSwam
Tapering is the part of the season where the least amount of swimming produces the most amount of speed.
Months and months of training, all leading to a two-week stretch where swimmers are doing less, fine-tuning their performance, and riding a roller coaster of emotions.
So how long should it last?
The research points to a taper lasting 10-14 days for most swimmers. But the more interesting question isn’t what the ideal number is—it’s why a lot of swimmers don’t want it.
The Ideal Taper Length for Swimmers
Ask about taper length on any pool deck and you’ll get a variety of answers.
Short. Long. Super-duper long.
The answers depend on who you ask, too. And the ones giving the answers may be a little surprising.
A recent study (Farrell et al., 2026) surveyed 93 regional-to-international swimmers, coaches, and performance staff about their tapering practices.
When asked about how long the taper should last, each group gave a slightly different answer:
Coaches preferred tapers of 6-10 days. Athletes went with 0-5 (yes, not a typo) to 6-10 days—some swimmers essentially wanted no taper Performance staff—which included physiologists and sports scientists—preferred 11-15 days.Three groups, all working towards a booming swim on race day, and no strong consensus.
So who is right?
According to the research, it’s the lab coats.
A meta-analysis of taper studies done by Bosquet et al. (2007) showed that a taper lasting 8-14 days produced the most consistent improvements on race day.
Shorter tapers (< 7 days) were generally less effective, while much longer tapers (3+ weeks) was scattershot in terms of effectiveness.
Taper length is just one piece of the puzzle. Training volume, intensity, recovery, and more all play important roles. Read this guide to taper in swimming.The performance staff preference of 11-15 days was right over the target in terms of what the broader research suggests, but swimmers were in the market for something shorter.
Why the Two Week Taper Wins
Over the course of the season, swimmers are building fitness and fatigue. Stacking them up on top of each other like kickboards, week after week, block after block.
When taper starts, the goal isn’t to build more fitness but to shed as much of the fatigue as possible so that the fitness can sparkle like a diamond.
And it takes time to shovel all that fatigue.
Even though muscle soreness can disappear quickly, accumulated physical and even mental fatigue take time to dissipate.
Collette et al. (2018) showed that when elite swimmers started tapering, some took up to a week to begin showing improved physical readiness, mood and energy.
Hooper et al. (1998) saw something similar. Swimmers did a two week taper, with depression and anger going down during week one, and then total mood disturbance and fatigue after week two.
The transition from being buried in hard work to readiness, confidence, and sharpness doesn’t happen overnight. Cut the taper too short, and you head into competition still fatigued. Extend it too long, and you start flirting with detraining.
Why Swimmers Lean Towards Shorter Tapers
If the evidence for a longer (relatively speaking) taper is fairly convincing, why were so many swimmers hoping for less?
After all, taper is supposed to be the fun part of preparation.
Our mood is improving. Training load is coming down. Competition is around the corner. We are tech suit shopping, stocking up on razers, and rehearsing post-race celebrations.
Why would swimmers want less of that?
Experienced swimmers already know the answer.
Tapering puts us into an emotional blender.
There is the fear that we are tapering too much and detraining. Feeling flat or like our stroke has fallen apart halfway through. The desire to squeeze in as much hard work into our prep as possible.
It’s the same workhorse mentality that got you through the holiday training camp, months of winter training, and countless swim practices that nearly broke your will, your soul, and your anti-fog coating.
That grinding mentality has nowhere to go.
If the taper process feels uncertain, if you’re convinced you are falling out-of-shape, or if you’re overthinking every stroke and lap…
A shorter taper simply feels safer.
Trust the process
You’ve heard the saying a hundred times. I’ve probably written it to you a hundred times.
Trust the process.
No different with taper.
If your instinct is to slot in a few more hard workouts at the expense of rest and recovery, recognize that instinct for what it is—the diesel engine workhorse mentality that leads the way for the rest of the season.
Plan your championship taper according to the work you’ve done.
Remember that you aren’t going to forget how to swim or lose all of your hard work with a marginal decrease in training load.
Don’t sabotage a sparkling race performance by chasing one last heroic week of work.
Let the taper do its job, and you go have fun and race fast.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Olivier Poirier-Leroy is a former national-level swimmer, 2x Olympic Trials qualifier, and author of several books for swimmers, including YourSwimBook, Conquer the Pool, and Tapering for Sprint Freestylers.
The book is a 98-page eBook packed with actionable insights and research into what makes an explosive taper unfold on schedule. Everything from duration to taper type to managing your dryland to navigating the mental ups and downs of tapering for sprinters.
Tapering for Sprint Freestylers combines evidence-based insights with a collection of 15 ready-to-go sets (plus the “regular” versions to better understand how they scale down), a Taper Blueprint to plan your taper like a pro, and a 12-week sample resisted sprint program to show you how all the principles come together.
No more guesswork or hoping for taper miracles.
Show up on race day explosive, fast, and dangerous.
Learn more about Tapering for Sprint Freestylers
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