Speedo’s Sharkskin Swimsuit: Hype or Holy Grail?
The world of sports equipment is often awash in promises, bold claims that frequently fall short of reality. Can a particular basketball shoe really elevate your jump? Does a specific jersey possess the aerodynamic prowess to shave seconds off your sprint time? More often than not, the answer is a resounding "no."
So, when Speedo approached me about testing their latest high-performance racing swimsuit, the same one gracing the bodies of elite Olympians, I greeted the offer with a healthy dose of skepticism. The days of full-body "fast suits" are long gone, relegated to the history books due to their controversial performance enhancements. These modern iterations are, essentially, just shorts. And as a regular swimmer already accustomed to stretchy Spandex jammers, I questioned the potential for any significant improvement.
I was wrong. Very wrong.
The suits in question belong to Speedo’s Fastskin LZR line. The name may ring a bell, particularly if you followed the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Back then, the full-body LZR Racer was ubiquitous, reportedly responsible for a staggering 98% of swimming medals and 23 out of 25 world records shattered during the games. Its performance was so revolutionary, so seemingly beyond the realm of fabric technology, that it was dubbed "technical doping," and subsequently banned from competition the following year. The rules were rewritten, limiting male swimmers to suits extending from waist to knee, or shorter, while female swimmers could wear suits covering shoulders to knees.
The suits I was offered were the Fastskin LZR Pure Intent (available for both men and women) and the Fastskin LZR Pure Valor (again, for both genders). These are the suits favored by top athletes such as Caeleb Dressel, Hali Flickinger, Ryan Murphy, and Abbey Weitzeil. A Team USA version, adorned with the American flag, is available, although the men’s Pure Valor rendition features a slightly unfortunate design choice that makes it appear as if their crotches have been strategically censored. Thankfully, a more subtle, non-patriotic version can be purchased online.
Before diving into the performance aspects, a word of caution: sizing is crucial. According to Speedo’s online size chart, my 31-inch waist corresponded to a size 22. This proved to be a critical error. The chart also included hip measurements, which I, in my hubris, disregarded, assuming that a correct waist size would guarantee a proper fit. I was sorely mistaken.
The size 22 shorts that arrived looked as though they were designed for a child. The material lacked the forgiving stretch of ordinary Spandex. The result was a comical, and ultimately futile, attempt to pull the shorts past my knees. It was physically impossible. Despite the absence of witnesses, I felt a profound sense of embarrassment.
A belated measurement of my hips revealed a startling 39 inches, placing me on the cusp of a size 24. My initial sizing blunder became painfully clear. Speedo graciously sent the larger size. In the interim, a former swimmer friend convinced me that any serious testing required the removal of leg and chest hair. The entire endeavor was rapidly escalating in awkwardness.
The size 24 arrived, and it still appeared impossibly small. My swimmer friend assured me this was par for the course, advising a strategy of shimmying, squirming, and "pinching my cheeks in." Even with this expert guidance, the process was an arduous five-minute struggle, involving multiple instances of the shorts getting stuck on my hips and posterior. The waistband dug relentlessly into my flesh, creating a generally uncomfortable and borderline painful experience. I was grateful for my pre-emptive hair removal efforts, as the pulling and tugging were already considerable. In hindsight, a size 25 might have been a more prudent choice, despite its apparent discrepancy with my waist measurement.
However, once I finally managed to wrangle myself into the suit, it looked…right. Not comfortable, mind you, but "right" in the sense that it resembled the way professional swimmers wear their racing attire. The suit sat low on the waist, providing a firm, compressive squeeze. My backside appeared flatter than I had ever witnessed. Movement felt restricted, but upon closer inspection, I retained a full range of motion. With nothing left to lose, I plunged into the pool.
The immediate sensation was undeniably different. As I swam, I felt a reduced sense of the water’s resistance against the areas covered by the suit. It felt as though I was gliding through the water with greater ease. However, aware of the potential for placebo effects, I devised a controlled experiment.
I would swim 100 yards, then 200 yards, followed by another 100 yards, at maximum speed (in a 25-yard pool). I performed this drill first in my decade-old Spandex jammers. Then, I took a lunch break to allow for recovery, and repeated the same drill in the LZR Pure Intent. This protocol inherently favored my old swimsuit, as my arms would be fresher during the initial swim. However, I reasoned that if the $400 suit couldn’t compensate for this disadvantage, it was essentially a fraudulent product.
The results were astounding:
Old Jammers: 100 yards: 1:12, 200 yards: 2:47, 100 yards: 1:15
LZR Pure Intent: 100 yards: 1:00, 200 yards: 2:21, 100 yards: 1:09
I was prepared to dismiss the entire concept as marketing hype, but these numbers were statistically significant. I shaved more than 12 seconds off my first 100-yard swim and over 26 seconds off my 200-yard time! It felt like witchcraft. Even on the second 100-yard swim in the LZR, with significantly fatigued arms, I was still more than six seconds faster.
I repeated the series of drills a few days later, reversing the order and wearing the LZR Pure Intent first. The results were essentially the same, with my performance in the old shorts even further diminished during the second set. The timings were recorded using my Garmin Enduro watch, which automatically counts laps and records times. While the watch exhibited a slight hesitation of a few seconds each time I stopped, this delay appeared consistent across all sets.
Intrigued and bewildered, I contacted Speedo to inquire about the secrets embedded within these shorts. Their response highlighted the culmination of 20 years of performance research, innovative technologies, and advanced fabrics. Speedo collaborated with leading research institutions to study the skin of sharks and how it reduces drag during swimming. They also partnered with the Natural History Museum in London and Formula 1 engineers.
Sharks? Formula 1? It all sounded impressive, but it didn’t elucidate the underlying mechanisms.
On closer examination, the suit’s exterior texture is not smooth and silky like Spandex, but slightly rough. Speedo’s website claims this "shark skin-mimicking texture creates micro vortices along the suit’s surface, helping reduce drag and encouraging forward propulsion." The material feels more akin to a high-end rain jacket. When I ran the suit under a faucet, the water beaded off, while my Spandex shorts readily absorbed it. This suggests hydrophobic properties, enabling the suit to glide through the water with reduced friction.
The waistband is equipped with two silicone bands that grip the skin, preventing water from seeping into the suit and creating drag. Furthermore, the suit exhibits significant vertical stretch but minimal lateral stretch, likely facilitating compression without hindering range of motion. The butt-panel features a raised hexagonal pattern, adding a cyberpunk aesthetic, but its functional purpose remains unclear.
These shorts are undeniably stylish and demonstrably enhanced my swimming speed. As a novice swimmer, I suspect that trained athletes with refined form would experience even greater benefits. However, for those who swim solely for fitness, the performance advantage is less critical. While minimizing drag is desirable, a good workout is achievable even in baggy boardshorts (though not recommended). These shorts, and the women’s full-suit, are designed for competitive swimmers seeking to win races or break personal records. In that context, the $400 shorts (or $600 suit for women) offer a tangible performance edge.
The experience demonstrates that even an ordinary swimmer can benefit from this technology.
Update, 8/3/21: Speedo provided additional details regarding the suit’s technology. Their collaboration with the Natural History Museum in London focused on how skin texture changes over the length of a shark.
"The principle is that in areas where water flowing over the body is likely to ‘detach’ causing drag, we build in our texture which creates micro turbulence on the surface of the suit, causing the water to ‘hug’ the surface and therefore reduce drag for the swimmer.”
The partnership with F1 engineers involved exploring how learnings about shark skin texture could be applied to reducing the drag of a Formula 1 car.
Regarding compression, Speedo stated:
“As well as the different areas of texture already discussed, we develop our fabrics to be able to compress the body to reduce form drag (the drag caused by the body shape moving through the water) as well as to compress the body in the key swim muscle regions to ensure that all the muscle action goes into propelling the swimmer forward and is not wasted. To give ourselves the flexibility to introduce more flexible areas of the suit, to ensure swimmers are able to have freedom of movement, we use layering of different fabrics.”
This explains the flattened buttock (reduction of form drag) and the preservation of range of motion during the breaststroke kick.
