I think the heat and the turns could have been a big factor here. A good flip turn and streamlined pushoff requires a bit more flexibility in the shoulders than a fullsuit offers. This does not matter in the open water though. A better comparative would have been an open water test - as it is closer to the intended use (or maybe in an endless pool, then temperature, current etc could be controlled better).

It's been shown repeatedly that a sleeved suit is faster than a sleeveless.

That's a good question. I can't see how can the sleeveless wetsuits be faster and I think they are so popular because people like their arms "free".

Swimming in the pool makes it different cause of what you said. Full suits get our body hotter than sleeveless ones, so you have a higher HR and MAYBE that's why the swimmer is slower. In open water that's less likely to happen. More, in open water you have more water "under" you so the more "suit" you have the more you float, so the quicker you are.

Just my thoughts...

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i think the difference becomes more noticebale when talking about MOP swimmers with marginal form as opposed to collegiate swimmers with excellent form. the crappier the swimmer the more they benefit from the sleeves.

I have a T1 as well and got some good advice about swimming without the top... if the bibjohn balloons up, consider a sleeveless Speedo fastskin top OVER the bibjohn suspenders. The fastskin models have zippers up the front so are easy to take off, and would be even cooler than a desoto vest.

I have not tried it yet but am going to do so this Spring.

I'm with Herschel. I'm FOP with a sleeved or sleeveless wetsuit in a short race, MOP without one. I'm faster in the pool with a sleeved wetsuit than a sleeveless...but, not by much. Still, faster is faster. Still, some of the best swimmers might do better sleeveless...wouldn't surprise me.

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Quid quid latine dictum sit altum videtur
(That which is said in Latin sounds profound)

overheating most likely was a factor if the test was conducted at in indoor pool. for the most part, the water temp at indoor pools are maintained at a temperature which exceeds the 78 degree usat limit for use of wetsuits. 82-84 degrees as i recall was the typical norm for water temp for the pools i swam in during competitive swimming days in high school and college.

Let's just say that my fastest half Ironman and Ironmans were done in sleeveless suits. The swim times were actually 30-90 seconds slower (30 for half, 90 for full Ironman), but the overall times were typically faster to the tune of 10-15 min. While there are many other factors, the fact that you sweat less and lose less electrolytes in a short sleeve suit has to help in the long run of a 10+ hour race.

For Olympic, I would always go with a Long Sleeve

The other factor is how the swimmers swam. If they had extremly high elbow recovery the full suit might have been too restrictive forcing them to alter their strokes to compensate vs the sleeveless where no alterations were necessary. The sleeved suit was faster than no suit.

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Brian Stover USAT LII
Accelerate3 Coaching
Insta

I'd also take a look at the study, was it "swimsuit" or "wetsuit". I'd argue that a sleveless bodysuit vs. a sleeves bodysuit is a different study than if you're talking wetsuits.

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Father Kevin

http://www.churchofcycling.org

What is interesting to me is that the full suit has the smallest variance and the sleeveless has the largest variance (17 vs. 28). This would indicate that either the slower swimmers were helped more by the full suit, the faster swimmers were hindered by the full suit, or a combination of both.

I would like to see how the numbers worked out if they did it with a group of collegiate men. One of the decision points I think I have read on the full vs. sleeveless question is your stroke rate. The slight reduction in flexibility for the full suit seems to hinder people with very high turnover rates much more than it hinders people with long slow strokes. I have a few friends that prefer their sleeveless suits over their full suits and they are all fast strokers. If you watched the Olympics (or followed a few threads here during the Olympics) the women on average had higher stroke counts then the men. I think if you put on this study with men instead of women you would see a different relationship between the full and sleeveless suits. Considering the intensity that these guys swim at the sleeveless may still win, but it might be closer.

Being a slow swimmer (new to the sport) with long legs that sink and long arms that don't like to turnover very quickly - I LOOOOOVE my full suit!

Todder

In addition to everything else said above, good swimmers might lose some time in a sleeved suit because they lose a little of their feel for the water with their arms covered.