How long will some of the records stand ???

I'm pretty confident Alain Bernard doesn't have a "gut" tech suit or not.

I think I am go to agree with Lefty. I think you will see swimmers body types go back to more slender body types without the tech suits. I know from my own experience, that cutting the water with more mass makes for slower swimmer. Put a tech suit on me and I go faster because I am more streamlined. Less gut in the way. It may be a while before we see the records set by tech suits fall. Was that Lefty's suggestion? Thought he was being sarcastic .... Lack of a tech suit doesn't seem to have impeded the track stars. I know to a moral certainty that I am faster now that I'm stronger. Being skinnier would theoretically be nice, but would not be conducive to faster swimming. I have no gut involved though.

Well, this should be interesting in the sales dept for tech suits in the next weeks !!

Which records in your mind stand out in the current era? All you mention are the 50 & 100 free. I don't think it will take 20-30 years for most records, though in any set of WRs there will always be a small number of durable ones. Think about what the WRs looked like 25 years ago compared to now. But obviously only time will tell. Freestyle hasn't improved that much? I dunno, most of the current crop of sprinters look incredibly huge/powerful to me. Popov, Jaeger and Biondi all look like twigs by comparison. Skeptic to the end eh Chris? Many of these incredibly huge/powerful swimmers you mentioned have been able to swim with a much faster tempo/straight arm recovery which is greatly assisted by these suits...I'll go out on a limb and say that fad will dimish quickly when this rule goes into effect and a lot of French swimmers won't be making as many finals/setting as many records in the 50/100.

Well, let's give the proper credit: I remember Jonty Skinner proposing this idea about the dependency between suit and technique. Maybe someone said it before him, though. It is an interesting theory. I have no idea if it is correct, but I do believe the straight-arm free sprint pre-dates the LZR and other suits (though it certainly wasn't as popular as now). I don't know about the stroke fad, these things can come and go...but I think that the trend towards bigger/stronger sprinters will continue. As far as being a "skeptic," it isn't only a matter of the effectiveness of the suits. I just think that once certain times have been achieved, aided or not, then psychologically it is easier to achieve them again, even unaided. How long it takes depends on how effective the suits were, I guess. But I wonder if the post-suit era will be faster than it WOULD have been if the suits had never been. I bet that's the case.

This has been suggested by Paul in one of his more brilliant observations: Guys like Bernard (size/muscle) can swim the way they swim because the suits prevent them from falling apart technique-wise. Put Bernard in a Speedo brief and he will only be able to do straight arm recovery for 60 meters. Guys are getting bigger, no doubt, but I don't think this trend will continue once the suits are gone...

This has been suggested by Paul in one of his more brilliant observations: Guys like Bernard (size/muscle) can swim the way they swim because the suits prevent them from falling apart technique-wise. Put Bernard in a Speedo brief and he will only be able to do straight arm recovery for 60 meters. Guys are getting bigger, no doubt, but I don't think this trend will continue once the suits are gone... How is that?

Fastest 50 Free in the World next Year ??? My guess is 21.65

Was that Lefty's suggestion? Thought he was being sarcastic .... Lack of a tech suit doesn't seem to have impeded the track stars. I know to a moral certainty that I am faster now that I'm stronger. Being skinnier would theoretically be nice, but would not be conducive to faster swimming. I have no gut involved though. I realize now that starting a post with "Paul" and "brilliant" leads to some confusion. I wasn't being sarcastic. I don't know that a big muscular guy like Bernard can hold his technique together for 100M without the compression of the techsuits. But this is Paul's theory, so if you disagree take it up with him... Ehoch: I'll go with 21.60

Skeptic to the end eh Chris? Many of these incredibly huge/powerful swimmers you mentioned have been able to swim with a much faster tempo/straight arm recovery which is greatly assisted by these suits...I'll go out on a limb and say that fad will dimish quickly when this rule goes into effect and a lot of French swimmers won't be making as many finals/setting as many records in the 50/100. NCAA 50 YD FREE WINNING TIMES 2009: Adrian, CAL (Go Bears!) in 18.74 2006: Jones in 19.18 2003: Bousquet in 19.31 The suits clearly make a difference, but from the above time progression I am not convinced that it is as great as some people think, especially not for swimmers already in excellent shape. Now, for fat old ex-Gauchos, that's another story....:banana: