I compete at triathlon (the modern pentathlon variety, swimming, running, shooting), which entails a 100m sprint swim in a pool. Recently many masters competitors have been sporting full body suits, and claiming that this has reduced their competitive times by up to 6 seconds over a 100m! Is there any evidence that these costumes can bring about such dramatic improvement? My own feeling is that if they do, then it's a form cheating as the costume has become an artificial aid - so I haven't invested in one yet!
What is the general feeling about the use of these costumes for pool events?
Joan
I think body suits used in swim meets (as opposed to the neoprene body kayaks used in triathlons!) help different body types preferentially.
Alexander Popov: lithe, long, no fat, concave abdomen, no baboon-like body hair--relatively little benefit from a body suit.
Jim Thornton: aging, portly, convex abdomen, covered with a shag carpet of chest hair--relatively tremendous benefit from a body suit.
Note: I "swam" the Chesapeake Bay Swim (4.4 mile open water swim) in a Quintana Roo neoprene suit. I loved that suit! But in my heart of hearts, I believe it's a stretch to call what one does in such a suit "swimming." You float so high in the water that it really reminded me more of a form of kayaking.
Which brings me to my own bottomline for what makes one suit legal and another suit not: If it is used primarily to compensate for a general inability to swim at all (i.e., something an embarrassing percentage of triathletes probably should confess), then I don't think it's truly kosher. But if it's used primarily to allow regular swimmers to perform their best without first having to undergo a whole body bikini wax, followed by annointment with pool-polluting body oil to enhance slipperiness, then it's A-OK in my book.
We've hashed out this one before; I am established as somewhat of a neo-luddite (agin the new suits, especially the expense of them)- but... I guess the line in the sand I wish to draw revolves around this: increasing our slipperiness is a general trend & has been for years & I guess I can't really quarrel as I have done the big shave numerous times- no the point that raises my hackles is that certain manufacturers claim through quasi-dendritic ridges etc to actually enhance performance through propulsive micro-design. Now their claims might be entirely bogus, but if they could be confirmed (or in some cases, extra buoyancy) than those suits should be excluded. I don't think we in Masters want to see our discipline, or Open swimming for that matter, degenerate to the level of, say, bobsled competition where money rules.
