What a split actually is
A split is a time at a wall that is not the finish. In a 200, that is usually four 50s. In a 400, the board may show 50s and the PDF 100s. Yards pools print 25s and 50s; metres pools print 50s and 100s. The last cumulative number is the race time. The rest is pacing.
Parents mix two printouts. The heat sheet is the start list — event, heat, lane, seed — already decoded on how to read a heat sheet. Splits are a result. They do not exist until a pad (or, rarely, a turn watch) is stopped. If you only keep the finish, you still have a PB list. If the coach says “they went out in 32 and died,” they are reading the subtracted row.
Cumulative vs subtracted — two views of the same race
Hy-Tek Meet Manager — the software behind most English-speaking club meets — stores one set of pad times and lets the operator display them two ways. The Meet Manager 8 Splits window toggles cumulative and subtracted. The results report can print none, cumulative (“running”), subtracted, both, or “legal splits” (the 50, 100, and 200 of a 400). Meet Mobile’s paid feed advertises the same pair (ACTIVE / HY-TEK store listing).
| View | What the numbers mean | Hy-Tek’s own sample (200) |
|---|---|---|
| Cumulative / running | Time from the start to that wall. The last cell is the finish. | 29.37, 1:00.13, 1:30.59, 2:01.11 |
| Subtracted / split | That 50 (or 100) on its own. Add them and you should recover the finish. | 29.37, 30.76, 30.46, 30.52 |
| Both | Meet Manager can print running and subtracted on the same report. | Useful when a PDF looks like two rows under one name |
1:00.13 on a cumulative 200 is the 100. 30.76 on a subtracted 200 is the second 50. Same race, different job. Write the finish as the result. If you keep the 50s, label them cumulative or subtracted so 1:00.13 is never filed as a 50.
Subtract neighbouring cumulative times. 1:00.13 minus 29.37 is 30.76. If that arithmetic fails, a pad was missed or the row is mixed. Do not invent a PB from a broken column.
Read a split row — invented 200 free, 50m pool
Three club 200s. Names and times are fictional. The finish is the result; the 50s are the story. First half versus second half names the pace.
| Swimmer | Cumulative 50 / 100 / 150 / 200 | Subtracted 50s | Pace |
|---|---|---|---|
| Maya Chen | 32.10 · 1:04.40 · 1:36.80 · 2:09.20 | 32.10, 32.30, 32.40, 32.40 | Even — first 100 1:04.40, second 1:04.80 |
| Tom Hale | 30.80 · 1:04.10 · 1:39.50 · 2:16.90 | 30.80, 33.30, 35.40, 37.40 | Positive — went out with the heat, came home alone |
| Priya Shah | 33.40 · 1:07.90 · 1:41.80 · 2:14.50 | 33.40, 34.50, 33.90, 32.70 | Negative — slower first 100, faster second (1:07.90 then 1:06.60) |
Invented names and times, long-course 200 free. Maya’s 2:09.20 is the PB conversation. Tom’s 30.80 opening 50 is not a 50 free. Priya’s last 50 looks fast because she had something left.
Even, positive, negative — parent English
Coaches talk about splits as a race plan. You need the two halves, not another app. Even means each 50 (or each 100) sits in a tight band — Maya above. Age-group 200s that hold 32s are usually the ones that drop, because they can still turn at 150. Positive means the second half is slower. Almost every first 200 looks like Tom: a heroic opening 50, then a second a length. That is going out on someone else’s race, not a character flaw. Negative means the second half is faster — Priya. Harder than it looks: the first 50 has to be boring on purpose.
Do not crown a 50 from the front of a 200. Tom’s 30.80 opening length is not a 50 free PB — no finish, wrong event. Priya’s last 50 of 32.70 is not one either; she had a running start from 150. Log the 200. Talk about the shape. Keep the 50 in its own column. Never lose a PB is by event and course, not by a pretty middle 50.
Even holds. Positive climbs as they die. Negative drops on the last two 50s.
How Hy-Tek and Meet Mobile actually present them
On the admin laptop, splits sit in the upper-right pane of Run the Meet. The operator flips cumulative and subtracted with one button. Out-of-range numbers — a 12-second “50”, a 50 in the 150 column — highlight in pink. A right-click slides a block left or right to fill a missed touch (Hy-Tek Splits window guide). If nobody fixes it, the live app inherits the mess.
On your phone, Meet Mobile only shows what that laptop published. Heat sheets can be a host charge. Full results, including splits, are typically behind the in-app subscription. The store copy is blunt: subscribe for “cumulative and subtractive splits,” and “HY-TEK does not control and cannot guarantee the availability or accuracy of meet programs or meet results.” Paying does not invent a session the host never sent. Watches and no pads often means no split row at all.
Hy-Tek’s “legal splits” option prints the 50, 100, and 200 of a 400 — not every 50. The help file warns that a backstroke intermediate may not be official if the turn was not a legal finish. A pretty 100 from a 200 back is not automatically last best.
Pads, hundredths, and what World Aquatics actually requires
When automatic officiating equipment is used, the pads are the clock. World Aquatics Competition Regulations (Part Two, Timing — the extract federations reprint) say those automatic times determine the winner, the placings, and the time for each lane, and they take precedence over stopwatches. Results are recorded to one hundredth of a second. Equal hundredths are a tie. Buttons and watches are the backup when a pad fails or a swimmer misses it.
A light turn can wreck the split row without wrecking the finish. Meet Manager then has a hole, and every later cumulative time sits in the wrong column until an operator slides the block. A 50-metre pool can take splits at both ends; a 25-yard pool takes one every wall. No pad at the turn means no automatic 50s.
World Aquatics is specific about relays. Legal splits up to a relay disqualification still go in the official results. For the lead-off swimmer, 50-metre and 100-metre splits “shall be recorded … and published in the official results” (World Aquatics Timing; British Swimming’s 2023–2025 extract numbers the same duties as 11.8 and 11.9). That is why a gun-start first leg can become an individual time. It is not a reason to paste a flying second-leg 50 into the PB column.
Relay splits versus official individual times
A relay result is one team time. A relay split is one person’s leg inside it. The first swimmer starts from a dive, on the start. That lead-off is the only split usually comparable to a 50 or 100 they might seed with. Legs two to four leave on a flying takeover — already moving when the incoming swimmer touches — so they are almost always faster. Treat them as relay information. Do not overwrite last best.
Whether a lead-off lands in a ranking file is a federation rule, not a Meet Mobile setting. USA Swimming typically loads automatic relay lead-offs into SWIMS; an intermediate split from a longer individual race often needs an official-split request before the heat, and a backstroke intermediate needs a legal finish on the back. Swim England, Swimming Canada, Swimming Australia, and Swim Ireland follow World Aquatics’ lead-off publication rule, then apply their own ranking filters. Read the meet pack if you need that 100 to count. Official versus unofficial versus converted is personal best vs official time. A flying 50 is not a converted time. It is a different start.
Do not paste a second-leg flying 28.9 over a 30.4 individual 50 and tell the Team Manager it is last best. Do not treat a 100 from the front of a 400 IM as a 100 IM PB unless an official split was requested. Do not argue with a coach using cumulative numbers while you are reading subtracted ones.
Why Meet Mobile splits can be unofficial
Live results are a first draft from the pads. Officials still compare buttons and watches, enter DQs, and sign the event. Until they do, Meet Mobile usually labels the time unofficial. Splits ride the same pipe. A missed turn, a late DQ, or an operator sliding columns will change the row after you have screenshotted it. HY-TEK’s listing says it cannot guarantee accuracy. The app is not the result sheet.
Screenshot once as a receipt, then wait. The finish that goes in your list is the signed one — official time, same event, same course. Copy useful 50s into a note after they stop moving. If they never appear, the race still happened. Ask the coach after the session. How not to refresh the balcony into a panic is Meet Mobile. This page is why those 50s are a draft.
Cumulative is the clock. Subtracted is the length. The finish is the result. Meet Mobile is a first look. Only the signed sheet is the time you seed with.
What to write down — and what Finzy is for
Write the finish: event, course, time to the hundredth, date, meet. Tag official when the result is signed. If the coach asked about pace, add the subtracted 50s in the note, or “out in 32.10, even.” Do not make a PB column for a middle 50. Do not let a flying relay split steal the individual 50. Short course and long course stay separate.
I built Finzy as the log you own. It does not import from Meet Mobile, Hy-Tek, Garmin, or FORM. You type the swim. Live apps glitch, skip developmental weekends, and go quiet when the host stops publishing. A typed finish still exists in March — the argument in never lose a PB. Splits are optional colour on that row: useful, unofficial until they are not, and never a substitute for the race that ended at the wall.
