Needless to say, new and advanced technology has come to men’s and women’s competition swimsuits. By analyzing swimsuits and using fluid dynamics this innovative piece of professional swimmers’ equipment had led to faster swim times for all types of strokes. Speedo’s development engineers have been challenged to integrate high performance materials which will ensure results and improve efficiencies by using innovative solutions. Shark skin and submarines have been studied to look at the flow of water over the shark’s body/submarine’s surface. These results helped in future Speedo’s competitive swimsuits design. Some other swimwear also incorporates buoyancy elements which make the swimmer faster in the pool.
Let us take FSII Full Bodyskin for example. This suit is probably the most popular model of this series of swim suits. However, keep in mind that this is not the latest model from this line of fast suits. Nevertheless, it remains popular to this day. And why is that? First of all, the FSII suit has a very thin, super-powerful, and extremely-low-profile panels that reportedly help the athlete maintain best possible body shape and also reduce drag along his body. All of these features combine together to make up to 8 percent less drag (please note these statistics are provided by the Speedo's global research and development centre) than previous models from the same series of competitive swimsuits, 4.5 percent faster starts and around 5 percent improved oxygen efficiency. The second reason why this suit is popular to this day is the not so high price compared to newer models from the same line. These allegations are very good. Also, many world records have been broken by athletes wearing the FastSkin 2.
But do all swimmers wear these revolutionary suits? Actually, there are some swimmers that argue that the FastSkin series of swimsuits and other similar types of swimwear shouldn’t be allowed at competitions. This issue has even been raised with FINA (Fédération Internationale de Natation or the International Swimming Federation) potentially having more strict design standards in the future. The most important part of the proposal is a ban on wearing more than one performance swimsuit at a time. Swimmers have allegedly been wearing two or even three swimsuits at the same time to gain advantage.
So, there is no doubt that the FastSkin line of competitive swimsuits is great. These suits are made to beat world records! And that is a fact! When swimmers train for the competition they use many methods and tools to decrease the drag of the water on their body. Be it an innovatively developed swimwear, wearing several swimsuits to improve results (as we already mentioned), athletes use it. However, it seems very simple to say and think that this swimwear is to thank for these great record breaking times. Claiming that an athlete can play football or drive tour la France just as well as the professional one whose name is on the sports gear simply by putting the gear on is nonsense. And this is a fact as well. To win a gold medal you have to work for it, to beat the world record you have to produce an effort that has not been achieved before. As we like to say, winning is a miracle, but not a mystery.
In case you want to add something regarding FastSkin or some other competitive swimsuits, don't hesitate to post a comment.
