After seeing a woman break 24 seconds and I think we can stop the discussion of "IF" the LZR suit is faster and start thinking "how much faster".
The previous line of suits (Fastskin and so on) were pretty similiar to a shaved swimmer. Sure - they do feel like they make you float, but overall the times seemed to move along "in line" with what I would expect to see in terms of improvements in the sport. If the previous suits would have been that much faster than shaving, you would have never seen people just using the legskins. By the way - for us Masters swimmers there was always the added benefit of keeping in all the "extra layers of skin".
So how much faster are the LZR suits ?
If I had to guess based on the results so far, I would say 0.25 to 0.30 per 50 and double that for the 100. I can see the Bernard going 48 low in the 100 and I can see Sullivan getting close or just breaking the 50 record. It makes sense that Libby Lenton would swim a 24.2 or so in the 50.
I think one of the top regular teams out there should do a test - you need a good amount of world class swimmers training together to be able to do a test. Here is the test I would propose:
8-10 swimmers
2 days of testing
4x50 on 10 minutes all out
Day 1 - swim 2 with a Fastskin2 followed by 2 with the LZR
Day 2 - swim 2 with the LZR followed by 2 with the Fastskin2
Get the averages of all 10 swimmers - maybe drop the high and low and there you go.
Why do the test ? I would HAVE to know. Swimming is a big part of your life and you just set a massive PR using this new technology - my very first question would be " How much was me and how much was the suit?"?
Parents
Former Member
The Fortress - I apologize for the rash words. I should not have let my emotions get the best of me there.
Everyone - All sports fall on a spectrum. On one end of the spectrum are sports where competitors may obtain relatively great advantages from the technology of their equipment (auto racing, bicycling, skiing). On the other end of the spectrum are sports where competitors obtain relatively small advantages from the technology of their equipment (running, diving, gymnastics). This argument comes down to what we believe the philosophy of swimming should be. There are plenty of sports where technology dominates. I happen to believe that swimming is a sport that should remain more pure. That is, I believe swimming should be about one human body against another human body, with the better athlete winning.
If everyone has an LZR, swimming remains pure in that the better athlete will win. Given the price, however, the winner at lower levels (high school, maybe Masters) may not necessarily be the better athlete but the richer athlete. This is an unfortunate direction for swimming to take.
The Fortress - I apologize for the rash words. I should not have let my emotions get the best of me there.
Everyone - All sports fall on a spectrum. On one end of the spectrum are sports where competitors may obtain relatively great advantages from the technology of their equipment (auto racing, bicycling, skiing). On the other end of the spectrum are sports where competitors obtain relatively small advantages from the technology of their equipment (running, diving, gymnastics). This argument comes down to what we believe the philosophy of swimming should be. There are plenty of sports where technology dominates. I happen to believe that swimming is a sport that should remain more pure. That is, I believe swimming should be about one human body against another human body, with the better athlete winning.
If everyone has an LZR, swimming remains pure in that the better athlete will win. Given the price, however, the winner at lower levels (high school, maybe Masters) may not necessarily be the better athlete but the richer athlete. This is an unfortunate direction for swimming to take.
