GUIDES · BETSLIP DOCTOR
Do both hands need visible space between them at a breaststroke or butterfly touch?
No visible gap is required. At Breaststroke and Butterfly turns and finishes, both hands must touch simultaneously and cannot be stacked one on top of the other; incidental finger contact is permitted. Breaststroke has a separate head-surface condition that does not appear in the Butterfly touch clause.
For Swimming fans and athletes trying to understand what “separated” means at a Breaststroke or Butterfly turn or finish. · Updated
Separated does not mean a visible gap
Part Two Articles 7.7 and 8.5 require both hands to touch simultaneously at each turn and at the finish. They define the hands as separated when they are not stacked one on top of the other. The text says a visible space is unnecessary and incidental contact at the fingers is permitted.
The touch can be at, above, or below the water surface. The rule is about the two-hand touch and how the hands relate to each other, not whether a camera view shows a gap.
Breaststroke has an additional head-cycle condition
Article 7.7 separately allows the head to submerge after the last arm pull before the touch, provided it has broken the surface at some point during the final complete or incomplete cycle before the touch. Keep this Breaststroke condition distinct from the shared separated-hands wording and from Butterfly’s Article 8.5 touch rule.
Fictional Breaststroke finish
In a fictional finish, both hands touch simultaneously, the fingertips incidentally meet, there is no visible gap, and the hands are not stacked. Under the February 2026 text, the absence of a visible gap or incidental fingertip contact alone does not contradict the stated definition of separated. This is not an officiating decision about a real finish.
Related questions
Must the fingertips stay apart?
No. Articles 7.7 and 8.5 say a visible space between the hands is not necessary and incidental finger contact is permitted, as long as the two hands are not stacked.
Does Butterfly use the same Breaststroke head-cycle wording?
The separated-hands touch is addressed in both Articles 7.7 and 8.5. The head-surface condition after the last arm pull is stated in the Breaststroke Article 7.7 passage; do not apply it to Butterfly as if Article 8.5 repeated it.