I was watching the NCAA swim meet on ESPN2, and was amazed at the what I saw. All of the women and some men had on these like full length, sleeveless skinsuits. Anyone know what these suits are made of and are the faster in the water? Thanks.
Apparently they do save milliseconds which in Olympic swimming can make a difference. Personally I wish they would ban these suits and level the playing field.
probably one of these.
This is some version of the suit used by some athletes at Ironman Hawaii. It appeared they were wearing them over their normal race clothing to mke them streamlined in the water since no wetsuits are allowed.
There was a thread related to this a month or so ago. It is quite interesting.
I thought those things were supposed to lose all their mojo once they got saturated with water? If true, wouldn’t it be counterproductive for IM distances?
Guess I’ll have to look up that old thread. . .
They’re called Fastskins. Speedo actually come out w/ a new suit called the Fastskin FSII a couple weeks ago.
Both the Fastskin and FSII suits mimic the ‘skin’ of the fastest water animal, the shark. If you look at the suit, you will notice that fish scales form on it when it gets wet and it also turns a reflective white when it first enters the water. The lines on the suit outline major muscle groups so when stretched, the fabric contracts making it act like another layer of muscle.
From tests, the fullbody suit saves about two seconds compared to a regular speedo by trapping air around and in the fabric giving you a lift.
So… it is very fast in the water. For triathlons, I don’t like the suit at all. The only negative to the fastskin or aquablade line besides being expensive is that they are only good for about 10 swims. After that, they’re pretty much just fabric.
I would just check out the new suits at Speedo.com. The time, money, and engineering that went into making these suits is truely remarkable.
**“The only negative to the fastskin or aquablade line besides being expensive is that they are only good for about 10 swims. After that, they’re pretty much just fabric.” **
What happens after 10 swims? Does it matter what distance those swims are? If its good for 10 200yd swims, is it only good for one 2000yd swim? More info! (please)
They stretch and get a little baggy. The “ridges” seem to get a little smooth.
These suits seem to provide the most benifit to very muscular sprint females. It really packs them into it and seems to (this may be the speedo advertising talking) dampen the muscle vibration.
I’m guessing here but when they are very tight they may serve to improve venous return.
From my knowledge, where those “fish scales” are on the suit, that area is actually either a very very very small indent in the suit or it is coated in some type of substance. Either way, the scales create the water that passes over it to start spinning in a spiral. From here, it gets wacky.
Anyways, once you use the suit a good number of a times, the fabric looses this ability. I don’t know why, I think the water just seeps into the suit enough that it just eats it away or something. Then it is just expensive fabric.
It is certainly good enough for a 2000 yard swim, maybe 2 or 3 of them. You just know the suit is “done” when it doesn’t turn white anymore in the water.
Even though I love these suits for competitive swimming, I would never use one for a triathlon. They’re great in the water but once out of the water, they’re aren’t comfrotable even just sitting there. A fastskin that is the appropriate size takes at least 10 minutes to put on.
IMO, De Soto makes a tri-suit unmatched by any company.