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?"?
Masters swimmers are all growed up and can wear what they want. If you prefer jammers or tanks, wear them. If you like bodysuits, wear them. But there seems to be a lot of ragging on the bodysuit wearers by the jammer wearers -- who sometimes insist bodysuits make no difference, but then complain when others wear them.
Not complaining at all, I don't think there is any closing of Pandora's box, I simply think that the rules should be updated to match the real world.
I believe that there is a lot of double-talk from FINA, how the suits are not buoyant and cannot be proven to aid performance. I think the only reason they make the latter statement is because of the existing rule against speed assistance and because the other companies are whining that Speedo broke the rules.
Of course, I'll continue to tease those who wear body suits (males, anyway; females have to wear SOMETHING and it may as well be a technical suit) but that's all in fun. I don't really believe they make that much difference -- the LZR may be different, I can't really say -- so I don't care who wears them. Maybe I'll try them myself one day (though the prospect of taking 20 minutes to put on a suit does nothing for me).
Masters swimmers are all growed up and can wear what they want. If you prefer jammers or tanks, wear them. If you like bodysuits, wear them. But there seems to be a lot of ragging on the bodysuit wearers by the jammer wearers -- who sometimes insist bodysuits make no difference, but then complain when others wear them.
Not complaining at all, I don't think there is any closing of Pandora's box, I simply think that the rules should be updated to match the real world.
I believe that there is a lot of double-talk from FINA, how the suits are not buoyant and cannot be proven to aid performance. I think the only reason they make the latter statement is because of the existing rule against speed assistance and because the other companies are whining that Speedo broke the rules.
Of course, I'll continue to tease those who wear body suits (males, anyway; females have to wear SOMETHING and it may as well be a technical suit) but that's all in fun. I don't really believe they make that much difference -- the LZR may be different, I can't really say -- so I don't care who wears them. Maybe I'll try them myself one day (though the prospect of taking 20 minutes to put on a suit does nothing for me).
