Abstract: By making a statistical analysis of segmental performances, stroke frequency, stroke speed and swimming speed in men's 200-meter freestyle finals in the 2015 World Championships, the 2016 Olympic Games, and the 2017 World Championships, this paper explores world excellent athletes' competitive characteristics in pacing strategy in men's 200-meter freestyle swimming race. The results show that excellent athletes generally employ the "quick start" + "uniform speed" strategy in men's 200-meter freestyle swimming race; in the first segment, stroke frequency is the most critical, which determines the overall stroke frequency in the following segments, and the difference in stroke frequency between medal winners (the top three) and non-winners (the 5th-8th places) occurs in the fourth segment; the stroke length in the second and the third segment plays a transitional function and is vital for medal winners to maintain their speed; medal winners and non-winners present a significant difference in their performances in the third and the fourth 50m, and both medal winners and non-winners attaining their speed by maintaining their stroke length and speeding up stroke frequency, and this is more obvious in medal winners.

Key words: men, 200-meter freestyle swimming race, pacing strategy