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
Sure, it's a costume...designed by NASA and tested in water flumes (or whatever)...
I've read at least a couple of articles that have said the role of NASA in the design of the suit has been greatly exaggerated, that their involvement was limited to material testing. I realize that's a digression.
I think the question is, when "reasonable interpretation" runs up against multi-million dollar sponsorships, which wins? It seems to me that a trade-off has been made, FINA has brought in companies that stand to make millions of dollars in the swimsuit market and FINA has in turn got a slice of those millions of dollars in the form of sponsorship. Yes, there is a price to be paid by everyone involved in the sport, but FINA has been able to use the money to give the entire sport a higher profile, and provide swimmers with opportunities to go pro that wouldn't otherwise be there. People will differ on whether it is a good trade off.
Personally I don't think you should be allowed to use a suit in a World Record swim until it is generally available, nor should you be able to use it to meet qualifying times until it is generally available. It's not fair that swimmers in some countries can achieve Olympic qualifying times wearing the suit while the suits are not available in other countries.
Another point is that you really need to look at the FINA rules rather than USMS rules in this circumstance.
Sure, it's a costume...designed by NASA and tested in water flumes (or whatever)...
I've read at least a couple of articles that have said the role of NASA in the design of the suit has been greatly exaggerated, that their involvement was limited to material testing. I realize that's a digression.
I think the question is, when "reasonable interpretation" runs up against multi-million dollar sponsorships, which wins? It seems to me that a trade-off has been made, FINA has brought in companies that stand to make millions of dollars in the swimsuit market and FINA has in turn got a slice of those millions of dollars in the form of sponsorship. Yes, there is a price to be paid by everyone involved in the sport, but FINA has been able to use the money to give the entire sport a higher profile, and provide swimmers with opportunities to go pro that wouldn't otherwise be there. People will differ on whether it is a good trade off.
Personally I don't think you should be allowed to use a suit in a World Record swim until it is generally available, nor should you be able to use it to meet qualifying times until it is generally available. It's not fair that swimmers in some countries can achieve Olympic qualifying times wearing the suit while the suits are not available in other countries.
Another point is that you really need to look at the FINA rules rather than USMS rules in this circumstance.
