GUIDES · BETSLIP DOCTOR
May a breaststroke swimmer use a butterfly kick after a start or turn?
Yes. Part Two Article 7.1 permits a single Butterfly kick at any time before the first Breaststroke kick after the start and after each turn. Article 7.6 separately prohibits alternating leg movements and downward Butterfly kicks except for the Article 7.1 allowance.
For Breaststroke fans and swimmers trying to understand the first underwater movement after a start or turn. · Updated
The exception ends at the first Breaststroke kick
After a start or turn, Article 7.1 allows one Butterfly kick before the first Breaststroke kick. It does not set a 15-metre distance for Breaststroke, and it does not authorize a swimmer to keep adding Butterfly kicks after the first Breaststroke kick.
Article 7.1 also describes a first arm stroke that may travel completely back to the legs while the swimmer is submerged. It separately says the head must break the surface before the hands turn inward at the widest part of the second stroke. Those details should not be collapsed into the single-kick exception.
Other leg movements remain restricted
Article 7.5 requires simultaneous leg movements. Article 7.6 separately prohibits alternating movements or downward Butterfly kicks, except as allowed by Article 7.1. The exception is specific to the single kick before the first Breaststroke kick after a start or turn.
The February 2026 edition is the source for this explanation. Check the governing rules of a particular local meet rather than assuming it adopted this edition.
Fictional Breaststroke push-off
In a fictional example, a swimmer pushes off after a turn, makes one Butterfly kick before the first Breaststroke kick, and then begins the Breaststroke sequence. That illustrates the narrow Article 7.1 exception; it is not a ruling on an actual race.
Related questions
Can the swimmer use several Butterfly kicks before the first Breaststroke kick?
Article 7.1 permits a single Butterfly kick before the first Breaststroke kick after a start or turn. Do not expand that wording into permission for repeated kicks.
After a start or turn, when must the head break the surface in Breaststroke?
Article 7.1 says the head must break the surface before the hands turn inward at the widest part of the second stroke. That timing condition is separate from the single-kick allowance.