The flip turn from freestyle doesn't work in butterfly — it's even against the rules. How to swim the open turn correctly and fast.
"I know the flip turn from freestyle — can't I just swim that the same way in butterfly?" Clear answer: no. In butterfly, the flip turn is actually against the rules. The rule requires you to touch the wall with both hands at the same time on every turn and at the finish — that's called an open turn, and it works completely differently from the freestyle flip turn.
Important for interpreting the rule: "separated and simultaneous" doesn't mean there must be a gap between the hands — governing body World Aquatics has clarified that touching hands do not result in disqualification. What's forbidden is "stacking," touching with one hand over the other. The hands may even be at different depths — the only thing that matters is that both touch the wall at exactly the same time.
The turn itself in butterfly is identical to the breaststroke turn — another reason these two strokes are technically closer than they look from the stands, even though the pull and kick differ completely.
Aim deliberately for both hands to hit the wall at the same moment, even if one hand lands a touch higher or lower than the other — that's allowed as long as they touch simultaneously. A non-simultaneous touch is the classic DQ reason in competition fly and breaststroke.
The moment both hands touch the wall, pull the knees to the body and rotate to the side so the feet come toward the wall. One hand releases earlier to start the rotation, the other stays briefly supporting on the wall.
Push off the wall powerfully with both legs, arms stretched ahead of the head, hands stacked in streamline position — exactly the position that also counts at the start.
After push-off, use the underwater dolphin kick (see the previous guide) for the fastest phase of your cycle — up to 10 km/h versus around 8 km/h on the surface. Keep the 15-meter limit in mind before you have to surface.
Surface with the first arm pull and immediately find your way back into the two-kick timing from the previous guides. This exact transition from underwater kick to full cycle is often bumpier than the turn itself — it's worth practicing on its own.
Because you look directly at the wall less often in butterfly than in other strokes, many swimmers misjudge their last pull distance and surface too far from the wall for the touch. In training, deliberately count your last strokes before the wall and settle on a fixed number instead of re-guessing the distance every time — that makes the touch reliable regardless of your sightline.
Practice the turn slowly and without time pressure first, before building it into full race pace — hasty rotations at the wall are a typical source of head or wrist knocks against the pool edge. Especially in shallower lanes, make sure you have enough clearance before pushing off powerfully.
Practice the "push-off → dolphin kick → first arm pull" transition as its own mini-drill, separate from the full lane length. Many swimmers train the pull and the turn separately, but exactly this transition between them often decides more race time than the turn itself.
No. The rules require an open turn with a simultaneous two-hand touch. A flip turn like in freestyle leads to disqualification in fly (and breaststroke).
No. They can be at different depths or heights and may even touch each other — the only thing that matters is that they touch the wall simultaneously. Only "stacking" one hand over the other is forbidden.
It doesn't — the wall touch and turn sequence are identical in butterfly and breaststroke. The difference between the strokes lies entirely in the pull and kick on the way through the water, not at the wall.
Within the 15-meter limit for the underwater dolphin kick, which at up to 10 km/h is noticeably faster than surface swimming at around 8 km/h. Staying underwater beyond the limit results in disqualification.
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