The
front crawl or
forward crawl, also known as the
Australian crawl, or "American crawl" is a
swimming stroke usually regarded as the fastest of the four front primary strokes. As such, the front crawl stroke is nearly universally used during a
freestyle swimming competition, hence
freestyle is used
metonymically for the front crawl. It is one of two long axis strokes, the other one being the
backstroke. Unlike the backstroke, the
butterfly stroke, and the
breaststroke, the front crawl is not regulated by the
FINA. This style is sometimes referred to as the
Australian crawl although this can sometimes refer to a more specific variant of front crawl.