It looks like the Nationals in Puerto Rico were a lot of fun. The reports by Rob Butcher were great, the weather looked good, everyone said they had a great time.... but, let's face it, the swimming was slow. There were only 8 world records by men and 7 by women. I am not a stats guy, but I think that is the lowest number of world records at a Nationals LCM meet since I started Masters swimming in 2002.
We know why. We decided to disallow the old tech suits. They help us swim faster. Purists say that is why they were disallowed. No advantage should come to us from our "equipment" seems to be the mentality. Why not? If we applied the same mentality to Track and Field they would not use cleats, would run on cinder (or dirt), pole vaulters would be using bamboo or steel poles, etc. etc. The purist argument strikes me as lame.
How did this happen? After the Worlds (was it last year?) and Biedermann soundly beat Phelps in the 200 free Bowman began talking about holding Phelps out of meets as long as the Jaked and B70 type suits were allowed (he didn't seem to mind when Phelps had the latest tech suit in his LZR at the Olympics....). Lots of folks were fretting over all the new world records. People were paying a lot of attention to swimming. This was bad? I guess it seemed so to some and FINA (we don't really know all the pressures/threats that were brought to bear) decided to ban the "rubberized" tech suits and not allow men to cover their upper body.
Now, the older we get the more loose skin we have and the more resistance we create with our "flabs" in the water. Younger, elite swimmers may not have quite the same problem. US Masters Swimming could have decided that while FINA and US Swimming disallow the old tech suits, we Masters will allow them. What would happen? Actually, from time to time, we would have elite swimmmers drop in to compete in a Masters meet--for fun--to see how fast they could go in a full body tech suit. And that would be entertaining and exciting; plus, we'd still be swimming fast.
The argument that they cost too much is weak since all the suit companies selling the new legal racing jammers charge almost as much for jammers as they did for an entire body suit!
I think it's good for our sport that swimmers can age up and aim to break a world record. Sure, it's an "age-group" record but it feels good and it makes for an exciting meet when this is happening. This is much less likely now.
I love to swim and look forward to competing again but, to me, it just never made sense to disallow the equipment that let us swim faster. We will have to make do with the situation right now but let's not pretend we are swimming faster. We're not.
Speed suits are legal for long distance, are they not?
I thought they were illegal for any pool swims, but I could be wrong. Imagine struggling for an entire 10k in a jammer only to find your competitors were all floating along in a B70!
They are illegal for pool swims but currently legal for open water swims. FINA has made them illegal (maybe since June 1?) for its OW events but I think hasn't yet ruled about masters. Or maybe they won't make a separate ruling for masters. (If masters pool swimming was pretty low on their priority list, you can imagine how low masters OW swimming is.)
I seem to recall that they didn't want to change the rules in mid-summer for masters, which makes sense. I don't know what the future holds for tech suits and masters OW swimming. (I confess I don't pay close attention to OW swimming...)
Perhaps you can explain how the playing field has been leveled by allowing $260 LZR Elite jammers.
Maybe by the fact that they aren't really any faster than the $60 pair of jammers I bought recently? "Level playing field" to my mind means the suit doesn't play a significant role in the outcome. Spend away, if you wish. You might be buying comfort or durability. But not speed, not any more.:banana:
You might be buying comfort or durability.
Uh, nope.
Tom, that is very cynical. I hope it's not true.
I'm slightly bummed that the 2009 World Masters Games are included in the LCM rankings. Those swims were done last October with tech suits, while LC this summer is no tech.
Gear is great but it's a poor substitute for conditioning and desire.
What's wrong with having all three?
It will be interesting to see how the tech suit ban affects this year's 5K/10K Postal swims.
I thought the times in PR were pretty fast for the people who were there(it was a small meet).I was only slightly slower than last year in the 100 & 200 BR and actually faster in the 50 BR.Robert Wright was much faster than last year.If you are slightly slower you can be really fast and not break a record.The suits made a difference,but less than I thought they would.Also,last year was at Indy,a really fast pool,where as this was just a fast pool.
What's wrong with having all three?
Depends on your POV. Whether you feel it should be across the board, or limited to certain levels of competition, possibly restricted to a certain age group, or maybe even sponsoring those that don't have means to obtain one themselves...other than those examples of stumbling blocks nothing.
I level the playing field with my ability, training and heart...wear what you like.
I really don't care for the suits either way especially in masters. However as a coach and parent I don't want it to become something that junior level USA swimmers start feeling they need at age 11...because others have the "status symbol" suits.
I don't mind if a kid makes the national finals...but then it's a slippery slope. At kid level I'd rather see it banned.
