what is free style

Freestyle is an unregulated swimming style used in swimming competitions according to the rules of FINA. The front crawl stroke is almost universally used during a freestyle race, as this style is generally the fastest. As such the term freestyle is often used as a synonym for the front crawl.


Technique
Competitors in freestyle swimming can use any of the unregulated strokes such as front crawl, dog paddle, or sidestroke. Standalone freestyle events can also be swum using one of the officially regulated strokes (breaststroke, butterfly, and backstroke). For the freestyle part of medley competitions, however, one cannot use breaststroke, butterfly, or backstroke. Most competitive swimmers choose the front crawl during freestyle competitions, as this style provides the greatest speed. Freestyle competitions have also been swum completely and partially in other styles, especially at lower ranking competitions as some swimmers find their backstroke quicker than their front crawl. During the Olympic Games, front crawl is swum almost exclusively during freestyle.

So now i am will focus on front crawl because free style is often used as a synonym for the front crawl.

The front crawl
The front crawl, or forward crawl, is a swimming style usually regarded as the fastest of all the styles developed. It is one of two long axis strokes, the other being the backstroke. Unlike the backstroke, butterfly, and breaststroke, the front crawl is not regulated by FINA, but it is nearly universally swum in freestyle competitions. This style is sometimes referred to as the Australian crawl or the American crawl, although these are, in fact, more specific variants, both of which qualify as front crawl strokes. This style is also sometimes called freestyle although it is technically only one of the freestyle strokes.