It's this magical lane in the middle of the pool, reserved only for the fastest. It's where stars are born, medals are won and tears are shed, when some outsider on another lane hits the wall first. But what's it like to live your life in the fast lane? And how do you get there?

Welcome to fastlane4.com, a new view up on the world of swimming. We are not going to bring you the 100th version of the latest competition results. We want to dive in deeper.

With interviews and feature stories we are going to take a look at the people who matter most in our sport: the athletes. Their life in the fast lane is what inspired us to create this new project. By telling their stories we want to pass this inspiration on to you.

Of course there is one thing that belongs to lane No. 4 like nothing else: speed. What makes one athlete faster than the other and why are some swimmers able to accomplish such outstanding results? The Germany based Institute for Applied Training Sciences (IAT) in Leipzig is trying to answer exactly these questions. They will share their findings and insights with us and we will pass them on to you.

You can already get a taste of our insights to the world of swimming with the first articles that are published under the label fastlane4. Many more will follow during the next weeks and months. So take your marks and join us in the fast lane!