Yes - one more time it's about the suit:
Here is a comparison to 2004 and what it took to make top 16 (top 8 for the 400) over the first 7 events:
2004 listed first then 2008 then the approx. % drop
400 IM - 4:24.8 to 4:21.0 1.5%
100 Fly - 1:01.29 to 59.97 2%
400 Free - 3:55.0 to 3:51.4 1.6%
400 IM - 4:49.57 to 4:43.2 2.3%
100 Br - 1:04.0 to 1:02.36 2.5%
100 Bk - 1:04.12 to 1:02.31 2.6%
200 Free - 1:51.1 to 1:48.76 2.2%
Ok - to be fair, people are getting faster, but I would guess at least a 1.5% drop across the board for the suit -- that is net time !
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Former Member
good to see more cooler heads on this board rather than the suit-hypers. the only truly scientific study I've seen (although he wasn't able to do any controlled experiments) actually discussed the possibility of bodysuits impacting performance to the swimmers' detriment. the use of neutrally buoyant material(or temporarily buoyant until saturation) in the new suits was postulated to impact performance to a degree, however. it probably is good for a tenth per 50 or 100. not the degree of improvement people were are thinking (2%=half a second off a 50), but for an improvement over shaved skin, that's actually pretty impressive.
what is most interesting is that I am not seeing many blue70's at the meet. considering that it seems to provide more buoyancy than the lzr, it's puzzling that i am not seeing anyone wearing them. i think a big part of suit choice is psychological-everyone seems to be taking speedo's handouts, so people don't want to go against what everyone in the crowd is doing.
good to see more cooler heads on this board rather than the suit-hypers. the only truly scientific study I've seen (although he wasn't able to do any controlled experiments) actually discussed the possibility of bodysuits impacting performance to the swimmers' detriment. the use of neutrally buoyant material(or temporarily buoyant until saturation) in the new suits was postulated to impact performance to a degree, however. it probably is good for a tenth per 50 or 100. not the degree of improvement people were are thinking (2%=half a second off a 50), but for an improvement over shaved skin, that's actually pretty impressive.
what is most interesting is that I am not seeing many blue70's at the meet. considering that it seems to provide more buoyancy than the lzr, it's puzzling that i am not seeing anyone wearing them. i think a big part of suit choice is psychological-everyone seems to be taking speedo's handouts, so people don't want to go against what everyone in the crowd is doing.
