USA Swimming has provided a list of suits to serve as a reference for swimmers trying to navigate the new suit rules (Rob Griffith, Associated Press)
USA Swimming got the message from athletes, coaches and officials confused by the new swimsuit guidelines. In an effort to provide more guidance, the sport’s national governing body on Tuesday released a reference list of allowable suits.
USA Swimming noted in its release, however, that “FINA [the world swimming governing body] will be the ultimate judge of which materials will be acceptable. However, in an effort to provide clearer guidance to its membership, USA Swimming asked the major suit manufacturers, in good faith, to indicate which of their suits meet the specified criteria. The list of those suits is below.
Please note, none of these suits should be considered “FINA approved” until FINA issues its list of 2010 suits. Once FINA publishes its list, some of the suits below may no longer be acceptable.”
Reference List for Allowable Swimsuits
ARENA
ARENA X-FLAT
a) Woman full body short leg open back
b) Woman Normal Suit (Classic)
c) Man Jammer
d) Man Brief
ARENA POWERSKIN
a) Woman full body short leg open
b) Woman Normal Suit (Classic)
c) Man Jammer
ARENA POWERSKIN R-EVOLUTION
a) Woman full body short leg open back
b) Man Jammer
AgonSwim.com
The following styles from Agonswim.com in the fabrics Paper, Streamline, Lycra, MaxResist, PolyRidge, Speedline, Duramax, Knit Polyester, PBT and Mesh meet the requirements.
Male styles
Brief
Brief Euro
Jammer
Splice Jammer
Training suit
Training suit euro
Female styles
Freeback
Freeback Youth
Knee Length Proback
Proback
Sprintback
ThinStraps
Thin Straps Youth
ThinStraps 1X
Thin Straps 2X
U-Back
BikiniBack Top
BikiniBack Bottom
BlueSeventy
Will provide a list when it is available
Diana
The below Diana suit models have received FINA approval
Diana Submarine 201M pants-short men
Diana Submarine 213W full-knee Women
Diana Submarine 243W full-knee women
NIKE SWIM
Will provide a list of approved suits once finalized from FINA
RocketScience Sports
Part Number Name
SW-000-FU-O FU RACER – Open Back Women’s
SW-000-FU-C FU RACER – Closed Back Women’s
SM-000-FU-H FU RRACER – Hipster Men’s
SM-000-FU-HW FU RCARER – High W Men’s
SWK-001-LIGHT rocket Light K Women’s
SW-001-LIGHT rocket Light Women’s
SM-001-LIGHT rocket Light Men’s
SW-002-ORBIT rocket ORBIT Women’s
SM-002-ORBIT rocket ORBIT Men’s
SW-003-FLIGHT rocket FLIGHT Women’s
SM-003-FLIGHT rocket FLIGHT Men’s
SMB-002 rocket BREIF Men’s
Tyr
Fusion Racer (Style#RFUS6) 2006 Male
Fusion Jammer (Style#SFUS6) 2006 Male
Fusion Aeroback (Style#AFUS6) 2006 Female
Fusion Aeroback Short John (Style#ASFU5) 2006 Female
Tracer Light Racer (Style#TLRA6) 2007 Male
Tracer Light Aeroback (Style#TLAB6) 2007 Female
Tracer Light Aeroback Short John (Style#TLSJ6A) 2007 Female
Speedo
Speedo believes the following championship suits meet the criteria listed by USA Swimming.
Speedo Fastskin FS Pro
Female Recordbreaker, Style #7190803
Female Kneeskin, Style #7190102
Male Jammer, Style #7050170
Speedo Fastskin FSII
Female Recordbreaker, Adult Style #7190142, Youth Style #7190141
Male Jammer, Adult Style #7050154, Youth Style #7050153
Male Brief, Adult Style #7055001
Speedo Aquablade
Female Recordbreaker, Adult Style #719040, Youth Style #719039
Male Jammer, Adult Style #705966, Youth Style #705965
Male Brief, Adult #705032, Youth Style #705031
Please note, this list is not all-inclusive. Until such time as FINA publishes its list, swimsuits meeting the below criteria, should also be considered acceptable.
1. Swimsuits for men may not extend above the navel or below the knee and for women may not cover the neck or extend past the shoulders or below the knee;
2. No zippers or other fastening devices are allowed except for a waist tie on a brief or jammer; and
3. Suits must be of textile material and must not be made of any rubberized type of material such as polyurethane or neoprene.
If you have additional questions, please email comments@usaswimming.org.
stats corner
Why not make these suits legal for till January 1, 2010?? We could buy one of these suits and FINA submitts their list in November or December and the money we spent is gone. Who knows, FINA may published their list during the SC Nationals or SC Juniors in December. What will the swimmers have to do. Get off the blocks and find a legal suit??? Even if one buys a drag suit, It may not be legal. I can’t see FINA testing every suit on the market. If we wait till the list comes out, those suits will be gone or hard to get.
On the high school front, State having their championship in October and November will get to use these suits. When the FINA list is published, some suit may not be available to other State championship held in December and on. That isn’t fair for the Spring Championships. That was one of the argument in the high school ban. Getting everybody on with the new suits! This list should acceptable to many and it eliminates the polyurethane / neoprene suits.
Why not just make these suit legal through the Short Course season for both high school and club…Then go to the FINA list. That would be simple and fair to everyone through this transion period. Both Parents and Coaches could plan ahead without the worry of losing money on another suit issue….
Seems like the USA Swimming is just making it difficult for the coaches, parents and swimmers.
USA Swimming, you can do better….Just keep it SIMPLE!!!
Carlos, I cant agree more. In my eyes, USA swimming should have banned suits the same time as the rest of the world.
I agee with USA swimming to start the ban… Not every one can affored these high tech suits. Lets start on an even field where money is not a factor…..
Steve,
The playing field will never be even since some people will be more talented than others. What are you going to do, turning the swimming into horse racing and handicapping the faster people with weights?
Why not go back to wool shortjohns? Isn’t Nylon/Lycra and other hydrophobic and oleophilic fibers ruining the “purity” of the sport? Swimming should be like chess, majong or backgammon. No rule changes- keep it pure! Yeah, that’s the ticket.
Oh, and while we are at it, I think the Lance Armstrong’s time trial bicycle has too many gears. It should only have just ONE like when the Tour de France started. Oh, and no helmets!
And those carbon fiber tennis rackets, those swanky golf clubs, the NBA with their 3-point line, Major league baseball lowering the mound so more home-runs could be hit, the NFL with their wussy helmets and over sized shoulder pads, track and field with spiked shoes and starting blocks… Who needs them? We want purity and purity means static stagnation – that’s what swimming needs to keep it fair and exciting!!!
The fact is that FINA has botched this thing from the start. And USA Swimming has been doing the same. Why all of a sudden are suits from 2000 that were perfectly legal, now illegal? Was it REALLY necessary to roll back to 1996 standards? Thirteen YEARS????
What ever happened to clear and rational thinking? Would it have been impossible to:
1) Roll back the clock to what was legal as of Worlds 2007.
2) Create a tiered system of legal swimwear.
An example: for all 12&Us, jammers and tanks only, period. 13&U – jammers and tanks with the exception of designated Championship (these would consist of National level meets) level meets where any currently approved swimwear could be worn?
3) Set a target date of at a minimum January 1st, 2011 for the establishing of clear, consistent and enforcable guidelines for coverage, bouyancy and composition.
4) Get scientists, engineers and swimming experts involved in the process. Don’t just rely on swimming politicians.
I’ve heard all the arguments for and against the suits. Some have been valid but most have been driven by self-interest and contain nothing but FUD, fear, uncertainty and doubt.
Swimming, at least in the US, has never been more popular and, at least from what I can see, never in more danger as a potential storm of events such as financial issues, reduction in facilities (as existing facilities age and are not replaced due to massive budget deficits), reduction in sponsorship opportunities (how much do you think a swim suit company makes off of a jammer?), reduced visiblity in a post Olympic/Post-swim suit craze year.
So why is FINA and USA-S so set on rolling this sport back so far? Are the suits introduced in late 2008, early 2009 a little over the top in thier use of non-textile like materials? Yes. Should they be banned? Most definately. But why ban competition swimwear that was deemed as acceptable for the last 9 years? That just doesn’t make sense to me.
SwimCoach,I agreed with you 100%. The rollback should have gone back to 2007. USA Swimming pushed FINA into the ban. We don’t have far to look who was resposible for the vote, our local USA Swimming Club coaches. The whole structure of USA Swimming needs a change.