Hello there
I am looking for a swimskin for Kona.
I never used one, so I do not know to choose a sleeveless or a sleeved swimskin.
Also, can I wear under the swimskin my standard tirathlon suit that have sleeves that cover my shoulders?
Thanks in advance for your suggestions
As far as I can see, most athletes swim with the sleeveless one, with the sleeved trisuit underneath, open down to the waist
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This is a good question.
It seems that virtually ALL of the pros wear a sleeveless swimskin over a sleeved tri suit. I have a sleeved Roka that I have been wearing over a sleeved tri suit. I also have a sleeveless Blue 70 swimskin from the days before I had a sleeved tri suit.
So, sleeved or unsleeved?
I’ve been using sleeveless swim skins for years now. But what I changed recently is not pulling up my kit during the swim.
I figured when I do my swim training I am usually bare torso. The Roka 2 is doesn’t restrict in anyway unlike if you have your sleeves up.
It’s a bit hard to get the trisuit up as you move to T1 sine both the kit and yourself are wet.
But I think I’ll continue to stick with sleeveless swim skins and keeping the tri kit down.
So, sleeved or unsleeved?
For me a trisuit under a sleeveless swimskin is the most practical option.
I’ve found swimskins tend to be quite tight and restrictive so it’s much better to use a sleeveless swimskin.
Also, some trisuits are better than others for swimming. If your trisuit is good enough you can definitely swim in a trisuit without a swimskin.
What I saw in Kona 2022 was that the majority in my starting wave had sleeveless swimskins over trisuits. Some didn’t appear to have a trisuit underneath (so it was presumably rolled down or they were going to change in T1). Some had short sleeved swimskins. Some swam in trisuits.
Pulling up your trisuit when you’re wet is a nightmare. I’m not sure how Frodeno managed to roll up his trisuit so quickly.
So, sleeved or unsleeved?
For me a trisuit under a sleeveless swimskin is the most practical option.
I’ve found swimskins tend to be quite tight and restrictive so it’s much better to use a sleeveless swimskin.
Also, some trisuits are better than others for swimming. If your trisuit is good enough you can definitely swim in a trisuit without a swimskin.
What I saw in Kona 2022 was that the majority in my starting wave had sleeveless swimskins over trisuits. Some didn’t appear to have a trisuit underneath (so it was presumably rolled down or they were going to change in T1). Some had short sleeved swimskins. Some swam in trisuits.
Pulling up your trisuit when you’re wet is a nightmare. I’m not sure how Frodeno managed to roll up his trisuit so quickly.
This ^^^^^^
I used a sleeved swimskin at my last Kona and it was too restrictive with my tri suit on underneath so had to have it rolled up around my waste and pulled it on as I came into transition. Can’t say it was terrible or I lost any time, and everyone will have their opinion but I’m not sure the time gain for a swim skin let alone a sleeved one anyway…
I have a medium for sale on “Rocky’s Garage Sale” over in the classified section. It’s a sleeveless PZTX3 by Blue Seventy…but it is a Medium so you’d have to make sure that’s your size. It’s actually been in Kona several times & that’s really all it was every used for…usually did wetsuit swims in all my other races.
I have both.
Testing in the pool, the sleeved swim skin is faster for me, and by a good margin few seconds per 100.
Also faster with the sleeved swim skin than a sleeveless skin with sleeved tri suit underneath.
I have tested twice, about a year apart, with the same results (long course pool).
200’s in LCM pool:
July 2018:
Sept 2017
(tighter grouping but same conclusions)
I can’t say I have seen it in races results though when I started using the sleeved skin - but hard to compare results from year-to-year due to other factors (conditions, course, etc).
It might only be me too that the sleeved skin is clearly faster - I feel like it does a better job at avoiding a bulge of skin near the arm pit where a sleeveless suit stops. Someone really lean and tight might not see the difference I saw?
Another benefit of the sleeved one is no chaffing around that same armpit area (moot point if you use a sleeveless swim skin over a sleeved tri suit).
On the flip side of the coin, I do not know about the Roka, but the Kiwami Aquarush sleeved swim skin is harder to remove quickly in T1.
So in races with a bit of distance between swim exit and transition area: I used for sure the sleeved skin.
If the bike is right there out of the water (and KONA you do pick your bag right there by swim exit), then I hesitate or tend to use the sleeveless skin (for sure in sprint, olympic, maybe 70.3).
12 seconds/100 from a swim skin sounds crazy
How much do you gain with a wetsuit?
Good comment/question. Can’t say I timed myself in the pool with a wetsuit.
Probable that there was a bit of un-evenness in the effort even if I repeated the baseline at the end and came within 1 second, but 2/3’rds of these figures might be more realistic.
Might re-test soon - I slowed down a lot in recent seasons, the 50’s hit (coupled with a few injuries) slowed me down a lot in all 3 sports. I would likely see smaller gains today.
But maybe someone else can do similar tests and report back 
I just tested again swim skins configurations, preparing for next (and last) Kona.
First, please note that in my original reply, I made a mistake: the times I posted were per 200m, not per 100m! I am slow but not that slow
Short conclusions:
→ Sleeved skins for the win.
→ My older Kiwami is still fastest (for me!)
Protocol: 200m steady laps in 50m pool config;
…after [200m warmup + 100 hard] after each suit change, before the timed 200
repeated 2 and 3 to validate.
Extrapolating over IM/3800m (including +10% total time to account for OWS navigation):
Surprised since the new B70 is new and water repelling characteristic is in full force.
Still takes me more time than I’d like to pull the sleeved swim skin off me - I have big forearms for a triathlete and the sleeves are catching there. So losing a good 10-15 seconds easy doing that. Not a problem for long transitions, but this is not the case for Kona. So there is a penalty there.
Depressing part: similar tests in 2017 & 2018, I was well under 3:00 for the 200’s at similar mid-race effort! Same pool. My swimming is also going down the drain while aging up - that’s the other conclusion.
