I don’t know if you read the World Triathlon rules of competition, but I do when it comes out. They usually highlight the changes.
For 2023, age groupers are now allowed to wear sleeved/front zipped uniforms for short course racing – one thing I always wanted.
I know some national federations provide their age group athletes a choice in uniforms which includes long sleeve, originally for the long distance World Champ races. Canada, my federation never did. And it seems like Canada is not going to for Pontevedra and Hamburg or the long distance race.
There is a slight aerodynamic advantage to the sleeves. Furthermore you save more skin from burning. So my federation is crippling us a bit.
Anyone in there federations have/have not long sleeve uniforms?
Sadly here in the US we have a system where the highest bidder gets the team deal, despite quality or function and at terribly inflated cost to the athletes. This has led to the last 2 vendors terribly failing in providing adequate uniforms for our teams. Photos the chafing and scarring on the last set is frequent on social media pages, with the vendor and USAT trying to bury the issues. I’m not sure of they offered a sleeved version, but even if so the fit and quality standards have been so poor as to have become a joke, and an expensive and sad one at that. Why the federations don’t allow athletes a voice in the choice or even variety and/or multiple vendors is beyond me. It seems each athlete has preferences and tastes that should allow them to choose based on quality and fit as well as price. Given our federation seems to require a kickback, these inferior uniforms are also often very overpriced. Sadly ITU seems to have deemed one vendor policies which has really hamstrung the athletes. Hope you can find a voice for your issues, but here the governing bodies have turned a deaf ear in lieu of cash.
I quite like the look of it and prefer a sleeved suit, although I’m irritated that I have to shell out for the new version having worn my previous one a grand total of twice. The old version is no longer allowed in competition from this year onwards.
I quite like the look of it and prefer a sleeved suit, although I’m irritated that I have to shell out for the new version having worn my previous one a grand total of twice. The old version is no longer allowed in competition from this year onwards.
I raced in the long sleeved version in Bilbao (middle distance) last year. I hope they’ve fixed the leg gripper issue for this year…
I quite like the look of it and prefer a sleeved suit, although I’m irritated that I have to shell out for the new version having worn my previous one a grand total of twice. The old version is no longer allowed in competition from this year onwards.
I raced in the long sleeved version in Bilbao (middle distance) last year. I hope they’ve fixed the leg gripper issue for this year…
What was the issue? Flappy legs or cuts off circulation??
I quite like the look of it and prefer a sleeved suit, although I’m irritated that I have to shell out for the new version having worn my previous one a grand total of twice. The old version is no longer allowed in competition from this year onwards.
I raced in the long sleeved version in Bilbao (middle distance) last year. I hope they’ve fixed the leg gripper issue for this year…
What was the issue? Flappy legs or cuts off circulation??
Some of the suits were so tight they left cuts on people’s legs.Something about a retaining stitch not being removed, mine seemed fine, but still left scratches on my legs post race.
I quite like the look of it and prefer a sleeved suit, although I’m irritated that I have to shell out for the new version having worn my previous one a grand total of twice. The old version is no longer allowed in competition from this year onwards.
I raced in the long sleeved version in Bilbao (middle distance) last year. I hope they’ve fixed the leg gripper issue for this year…
What was the issue? Flappy legs or cuts off circulation??
Some of the suits were so tight they left cuts on people’s legs.Something about a retaining stitch not being removed, mine seemed fine, but still left scratches on my legs post race.
I didn’t have a problem, but only wore it once for race day. USAT announced two days ago that they added another vendor, there will be two kits styles and vendors for 2023.
I didn’t have a problem, but only wore it once for race day. USAT announced two days ago that they added another vendor, there will be two kits styles and vendors for 2023.
Zoot will be one of the vendors so the quality should be > than last year’s pink er I mean red USA kit.
I’ve seen good Zone 3 stuff but last year’s team USA kit was by far the worst kit I’ve seen from them
Team USA reports on their FB page for 2023 Team USA athletes that WT approved front zip and short sleeves for all AG distances, including sprint distances.
Adding Zoot as an approved vendor for Team USA AG recognizes the problems with Zone3. Personally, I’m unhappy as I have the Z3 kit from last year and the new Zoot kit is so much more attractive and, likely, higher quality. And let’s not get started about the Z3 parade kit. The shirt was grey with white block lettering. Pants were plain black with white block lettering. Kindergarten design with no specificity for USA logos or colors. Poor quality, too. I have one piece of non-Team USA Z3 kit and it’s great. They are capable. But the poor quality and high price of the Z3 Team USA kit reflects poorly on Z3, the Team USA folks that made the vendor selection and the economics of a single vendor monopoly.
ETA: Team USA originally reported that front zip / short sleeves were approved only for standard and long distance events and recently corrected to add that these new styles were also approved for short/sprint distance events.
First of all yes, the USA Federation (USAT) has just started to update it’s athletes on its Facebook groups with the zipper update and sleeve allowance. Unsure if they’ve sent out any communication to address that yet.
Yes there are multiple options with sleeved and unsleeved kits through Zoot with zippers in the front or back. Zoot is the brand new approved kit vendor as of Jan. 4th due to Zone3 being such a disaster as a kit supplier… unprecendented in my years with TeamUSA… (Speedo,TYR,Roka and Zone3) normally it’s a 3 year contract but I digress.
Not sure how good the Zoot kits are, but they are less expensive and lots of options. Performance, fit and function will hopefully be good.
I don’t know if you read the World Triathlon rules of competition, but I do when it comes out. They usually highlight the changes.
For 2023, age groupers are now allowed to wear sleeved/front zipped uniforms for short course racing – one thing I always wanted.
I know some national federations provide their age group athletes a choice in uniforms which includes long sleeve, originally for the long distance World Champ races. Canada, my federation never did. And it seems like Canada is not going to for Pontevedra and Hamburg or the long distance race.
There is a slight aerodynamic advantage to the sleeves. Furthermore you save more skin from burning. So my federation is crippling us a bit.
Anyone in there federations have/have not long sleeve uniforms?
The suits have been legal for AG racing for a few years, except for non-wetsuit swims of Standard distance or shorter (e.g. Middle/LD, Duathlon, etc.). The new clarification opens the floodgates regardless of water temp.
On the comment about Canada not offering a short sleeved suit, that’s actually untrue. I just ordered my kit for Ibiza Worlds this morning, and with the new kit sponsor Z3ROD, there is a short sleeve kit option,and in the email to order, they explicitly state the legality of the suits for age groupers for all distances (despite the note in the shop citing the elite rules that prohibit them for Standard distance or shorter). I’m racing the sprint Du, and went sleeveless rear-zip, just for the ease of adding name and sponsor logos to the kit with the rear zip.
On the comment about Canada not offering a short sleeved suit, that’s actually untrue. I just ordered my kit for Ibiza Worlds this morning, and with the new kit sponsor Z3ROD, there is a short sleeve kit option,and in the email to order, they explicitly state the legality of the suits for age groupers for all distances (despite the note in the shop citing the elite rules that prohibit them for Standard distance or shorter).
Go news then. I am doing the standard and haven’t received any news since December. When did you get an email to buy kits?
To be clear, the rule change allows short sleeves (“sleeves that extend to above the elbow and not covering the elbow”).
Also, of interest, a couple of the rules regarding zippers don’t seem to apply to age groupers . For example (“If the suit has a zipper it must be located at the back and will not be longer than 40 cm. This rule does not apply for events in which short sleeves are allowed as per (iii) above .” So age groupers can wear a zipper of any length and in any location.
Also, for age grouper standard and shorter distance, the mid and long distance rules about unzipping do not appear to apply (because they only pertain to mid/long races). In particular (“15.7 Uniform: a.) Front zipper is allowed; b.) Zipper can be undone to the point of the end of the breastbone (sternum) during the competition, with the exception of the last 200 metres of the run, when it needs to be zipped up.”) doesn’t apply to shorter races because it is a mid/long course rule only and there is no counterpart in the rest of the rules. (See also appendix K which further indicates it is only a mid/long rule “19. In Middle- and Long-Distance events, wearing a uniform with front zipper undone below the point of the end of the breastbone (sternum) during the competition; - Warning and amend - If not corrected: DSQ 15.7 b.”) – but note that 2.8(c)(ii) still provides that “The uniform must cover the whole torso in the front. The back may be uncovered from the waist up;” This does not talk about unzipping but it might be stretched to limit it. Stay tuned for further clarifications.
On the comment about Canada not offering a short sleeved suit, that’s actually untrue. I just ordered my kit for Ibiza Worlds this morning, and with the new kit sponsor Z3ROD, there is a short sleeve kit option,and in the email to order, they explicitly state the legality of the suits for age groupers for all distances (despite the note in the shop citing the elite rules that prohibit them for Standard distance or shorter).
Go news then. I am doing the standard and haven’t received any news since December. When did you get an email to buy kits?
Standard Tri? TriCan is likely staggering the shops/orders. We got our emails in Early Jan, with a deadline last week to order, but Multisport Worlds are April 29-May 6. I believe the shops are currently open for Hamburg (sprint/relay worlds) because of their summer race dates and then they will move on to Pontevedra for Standard/Super Sprint since the races are in September. It would make sense to ensure that kits get out first to the people racing the earliest and so on. Allegedly we should be getting our stuff in March (I haven’t had the best of luck with my Canadian kits in the past, one year, the Fedex guy dropped my stuff at another athlete’s house (I figured it out when I checked the tracker and saw the name of the person who signed for it), fortunately we knew each other, and she lived nearby, so I was able to get it, the next time they completely pooched the shipping info, and sent my kit to someone on a few provinces over, that person kindly shipped it to me on their own dime, and I doubt ever got reimbursed by the manufacturer despite their promises, and the time after that despite paying for shipping, the kits weren’t ready on time, so they were literally delivered to Tri Can at the race in Denmark, and we got our kits a day or two before the race). I’m slightly re-assured by the fact that Z3roD used to do the kits for the GB team, which is far larger than Canada’s, so they should be better equipped to handle bulk orders.