Does Speedo's Fastskin LZR Racer Give Swimmers an Unfair Advantage?
Thursday June 26, 2008
Speedo's Fastskin LZR Racer - the fastest swim suit in the world for 2008? So far, yes! We will see the suit in action over the coming months. It looks fast, I'm sure other suits will be out to compete with it, but the standard has been set by the Speedo Fastskin LZR Racer. What do you think - does the suit give swimmers an unfair advantage - is the suit legal (FINA said it was) and/or is it too expensive? Why is it so fast? A lot of reasons, including:- Computational Fluid Dynamics - How does water flow around a swimmer?
- Space-age Research - They Used NASA scientists!
- Extensive Water Flume Testing
- Body Scans to Make the Suit Pattern
- Performance Factor Testing - How Does It Work in the Real World?
Comments
Does the suit have buoyancy??
Any buoyancy would be an unfair advantage.
If you toss the suit in the pool will it float or sink???
It is all marketing, good job speedo !
You are going to make a lot of money off of age-group parents.
See Fast Company July/August edition for extensive article on sports technology. Pages 84 and 85 explain the LZR suit. It does not add bouyancy.
Go Speedo.
They were not created by NASA scientists. Speedo merely used their wind chamber.
To Charles Pember-what about swim caps? If you toss those in the pool they float! You are obviously very uneducated on all things swim related so I suggest before you make ignorant comments like your previous one you learn something about competitive swimming. Not only does the LZR Racer provide swimmers with a reliable suit with minimum drag, but it really works. Nearly 50 of the swimming world records have been broken by swimmers all around the world wearing Speedo’s suit. Iowa State’s swimmers and Physiology profesors spent endless amounts of time creating and testing this suit, but the research involved is beyond your education anyway. Which is probably why the only reason why you questioned is the buoyancy. Please, next time you decide to argue with someone else’s hard work, research what your talking about first. If swim caps float and they are availible to everyone, why not wear them. That is by no means considered an unfair advantage.
I admit, that guy’s question about bouancy was stupid, but wow, Shannon, you didn’t have to drown the poor bastard!
I was setting swimming records before you were born, and I still have my all-nylon-stars-and-stripes-lucky-Mark-Spitz suit – old school. The introduction of Lycra in the late seventies was world-changing in swimming circles. No one really cared if it was faster or not, it just fit and felt a lot better than plain nylon.
Back in those days the biggest controversy in men’s swimming was to shave or not to shave. Supposedly, shaving all your body hair would give you an edge of perhaps several hundreths of a second. Of course, Mark Spitz proved that theory wrong – he was a hairy beast! Shaving your body hair gave you a psychological edge, not a physical edge. And, of course, you can gain a psychological edge without shaving, and certainly without high-tech-drag-reducing-shark-skin-like suits! It is all in your head. Get back to to basics!!