By Braden Keith on SwimSwam
World Aquatics has released its updated competition regulations. While there are many, many minor changes to processes and procedures, there was one rule that caught some attention.
World Aquatics will now treat the 400 meter freestyle, which is eight lengths or four laps in a long course Olympic-sized pool, the same as it treats longer races like the 800 and 1500 meter freestyles when it comes to counting.
See the full updated World Aquatics Competition Regulations (February 2026)Swimmers in the 400 meter free will now have lap counters and a bell or whistle before the final lap. Since 2015, World Aquatics has used electronic counters on the pool floor instead of hand held boards.
While elites eventually race enough to have a certain rhythm in their head that makes counters unnecessary in the 400 free, some of the biggest names in swimming have made errors. At the 2021 European Short Course Championships, Romanian star David Popovici stopped at the 350 meter mark of prelims in the 400 free before realizing his error and finishing the race. He was leading his heat, and while his 3:15.61 split at the 350 mark meant he would have needed a really good final 50 to make the final anyway, a 32.59 on the last lap sank any chance.
The current World Record holder Lukas Maertens touched early at his first German Junior Championships race in Berlin when he was only 11 years old in the 400 free in long course. An official would alert him to his error and he would swim the last lap.
Maertens, now 24, says that he feels more confident in his intuition to count a race now, however.
“But I’ve swum that distance so often now that I wouldn’t need that assistance,” he told the German Swimming Federation of the changes. “These days, I can probably even predict my exact time. Whether it’s 3:40, 3:45, or 3:50 – I can feel it now.”
Maertens set the world record last year in Stockholm with a time of 3:39.96 minutes.
Other Rules Updates
Mirroring the recent changes in backstroke races, rules have been updated allowing athletes to resubmerge in the final 5 meters of freestyle and butterfly races as well. While not necessarily a practical strategy for speed, the rule was designed to eliminate disqualifications for a swimmer who completely submerges while lunging for the wall at the finish of a race. Sponsor logos measuring up to 30 centimeters square will now be allowed in swimming and open water swimming World Cup events.Read the full story on SwimSwam: World Aquatics Has Added Lap Counters, “Bell Laps” to 400 Free
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