Masters swimmers still can't get an answer on whether to throw out, or stockpile, high-tech suits. (Al Bello, Getty Images)
Masters swimmers, we promised to get back to you.
Now, please don’t shoot the messenger.
U.S. Masters Swimming is digesting this weekend’s development on the swimsuit front and …. still doesn’t know whether or not it will ban long-length, high-tech swimsuits in masters competition for October meets.
But the USMS rules committee chaired by Kathy Casey is determined to reach a decision, or at least a partial one, in the next 10 days or so, Casey said Monday night.
And USMS President Jeff Moxie said the board intends to vote immediately on whatever proposal it receives from the rules committee.
So you’re looking, it appears, at two more weeks of angst before you know whether it makes sense to drop several hundred dollars on a deeply discounted high-tech suit, or whether you might want to try out a comfortable pair of jammers.
For anyone rolling his or her eyes, sighing or otherwise agitated, let me insert this editorial comment: FINA, the sport’s world governing body, has made this as complicated and convoluted as possible for the various national governing bodies.
To recap: FINA over the summer said its planned Jan. 1 ban on non-textile suits longer than waist-to-knee for men and neck-to-knee for women did not apply to masters swimming. On Saturday, FINA’s masters technical committee recommended that the ban should apply to masters swimming — and it sent that recommendation back to the FINA Bureau, which does not meet again until mid-January.
In short, FINA gave up the issue, but now has it back, and won’t consider it for another three months.
What is USMS to do?
USMS officials seem fairly set on one course of action:
Moxie and Casey said USMS is likely to adopt whatever ban the FINA Bureau adopts (or does not adopt) for events in short- or long-course meters simply to ensure that U.S. swimmers have a chance to set world records and earn top-10 rankings. So nothing should happen there until January. If you can find a meet in a meters pool, you probably will be able to wear your high-tech suit throughout the fall.
Come January, however, you might have to retire it.
The bigger question is short-course yards, a distance FINA does not recognize, and, obviously, a pretty popular one stateside. What to do there, and when to do it? Casey said it is possible her committee will recommend no action until after the FINA Bureau meeting but, she said, there is some sentiment for putting restrictions in place immediately. What, though, would they be?
1. No restrictions (at least until January)?
2. The anticipated — but hardly set-in-stone — FINA rules?
3. The rules recommended by the USMS masters rules committee (and which were ignored by the FINA masters technical committee last weekend), that called for slightly different prohibitions than the elite rules, allowing for the same size suits (neck-to-knee) for men and women (rather than waist-to-knee for men) and permitting zippers and fasteners.
“I’m looking for my committee to make a decision in the next week and a half on whether there is a need to do anything or not,” Casey said. “My committee runs the full gamut of opinions.”
Casey added that she feels “a sense of urgency” to hand down a recommendation.
Stay tuned. (And feel free to let us know whether you vote for 1, 2, or 3.)
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