Are Super-Suit Era Swims Still Ahead of Their Time?

This article originally appeared in the Spring 2023 issue of SwimSwam magazine. Subscribe here.

It’s been 13 years since high-tech swimsuits were banned from swimming. But they are far from being just a distant memory.

The impact they made between 2008 and 2009 was huge, since they were used by almost every elite swimmer in that period and were instrumental in breaking several world records. Some of these records still stand today, such as Cesar Cielo’s 50 freestyle, Michael Phelps’ 400 IM, and Federica Pellegrini’s 200 freestyle.

It is undeniable that swimmers were able to swim much faster because of the suits. At that time, they set records that were way beyond our imagination. Even today, some of them seem untouchable, like Paul Biedermann’s 200 freestyle, Zhang Lin’s 800 freestyle, and Liu Zige’s 200 butterfly.

On the other hand, some other very fast world records from that period have been broken in past years. In 2022, we saw one of them: David Popovici in the men’s 100 freestyle, breaking the 13-year-old world record by Cesar Cielo from the 2009 World Championships in Rome.

Overall, on average, have the current swimmers been swimming faster than the super-suited swimmers from the 2008-2009 era? This is the question we are going to try to answer.

THE LEGACY OF THE SUITS

In 2008, Speedo launched the LZR Racer suit, adding polyurethane panels to its existing design and replacing the Teflon coating used in previous models. The more polyurethane the suits had, the less drag they created. The result was 55 world records broken in that year in long course meters — 25 of those during the Beijing Olympics.

In 2009, other manufacturers like Jaked and Arena went further and made their suits entirely with polyurethane, allowing the swimmers to glide through the water even faster. Sixty-seven world records were broken that year in long course meters — 43 at the World Championships in Rome — the most ever.

At the beginning of 2010, World Aquatics banned those suits for good. Now, swimsuits have to be made with only textile materials, no polyurethane.

It is true that, as of today, several of the fastest performances of all time were set in that period. And some of them still seem ahead of our time.

But swimming has evolved, and most of the world records set in high-tech suits have already been surpassed. From the 34 individual events officially recognized by World Aquatics in long course meters, 26 have seen world records set from 2010 on.

Aside from the world records, it is also interesting to analyze which events have been showing the most improvement compared to the super-suits era.

A 2009 X 2022 COMPARISON

Let’s take a look at the top 25 all-time performers’ rankings, in each event. Putting it into perspective, by the end of 2009, most of those rankings were dominated by performances set in 2008 and 2009. For example, in the men’s 100 butterfly, Ian Crocker (50.40 in 2005, a world record by then) was the only swimmer who appeared among the 25 fastest performers ever with a swim before 2008 – all the other 24 swimmers had set their fastest times in 2008 and 2009.

Considering all the 34 individual events, which means 34 x 25 = 850 records, 666 (78.4%) had been set in the super-suit era by the end of 2009.

What about today? How many of those swims are left in the rankings?

By the end of 2022, 188 (22.1%) of all those 850 records were set in 2008 and 2009.

The men’s 50 freestyle top 25 all-time rankings are still quite dominated by that era, with 12 super-suited swimmers – ones like Cesar Cielo, Frederick Bousquet, Ashley Callus, George Bovell, Alain Bernard, Amaury Leveaux and Eamon Sullivan.

In fact, swimmers from that era tend to appear more in the men’s historical rankings than in women’s rankings. The men’s 100 freestyle (10), 200 butterfly (10), 100 backstroke (9), and 50 butterfly (8) top the list. Only then does a women’s event appear, the 100 breaststroke (8).

It checks out, since women were seemingly able to reach the 2008-2009 level before men. After all, in the years that followed the super-suit ban, we saw many more world records in women’s events than in men’s events, up until 2017. Since 2018, there have been more world records in men’s events.

This can be seen in the world records table: In long course meters, six men’s world records in individual events from that era still survive. On the women’s side, there are only two.

On the other hand, as of today, only two performers from 2008-2009 appear in women’s 1500 freestyle and the men’s 50 breaststroke top 25 all-time rankings. If we look at only the Olympic events (women’s 1500 freestyle was not an Olympic event at that time), only three swimmers from the super-suit era appear in women’s 100 freestyle and 100 backstroke, and men’s 200 breaststroke.

Number of Performers from the Super-Suit Era (2008-2009) in the Top 25 All-time Rankings in 2009 and 2022

So it seems that in a few years, in some events, there will be no sign of super-suited swimmers among the fastest of all time.

HAVE THE CURRENT SWIMMERS SURPASSED THE 2008-2009 LEVEL OF PERFORMANCE?

Let’s take a look at the average time evolution analyzing some deeper rankings, the top 100 world rankings by year. We will try to determine if, on average, the current swimmers have surpassed the 2008-2009 level of performance.

For example, in 2009, the average time of the 100 fastest swimmers in the world in the men’s 50 freestyle was 22.06. After the suit ban, this average increased to 22.44 in 2010. Then the average started to decrease, and only in 2021 was it faster than 2009, 22.01.

Average Time of the Top 100 Performers by Year in Men’s 50 Freestyle (2009-2022)

 It is important to notice that typically this average tends to increase in the year that follows the Olympic year, in all events. In the men’s 50 freestyle, it was 22.09 in 2022, higher than 2009.

In the women’s 50 freestyle, on the other hand, the average time of the top 100 performers in 2015 was faster than in 2009.

Average Time of the Top 100 Performers by Year in Women’s 50 Freestyle (2009-2022)

This pattern is seen in other events – women reaching the 2008-2009 level way before men. For example, in 2012, the average times in four women’s events and only one men’s event were faster than in 2009.

Interestingly, 2015 seems to be a turning point. In 2014, nine events had their average time faster than in 2009. In 2015, it was 20. And this number has only been increasing.

Average Time of the Top 100 Performers in 2009 and 2022 by Event

In 2021, only two events had the top 100 average times higher than in 2009: women’s 200 butterfly and 400 IM. In 2022, it was eight events. In the table above, we can see that, in most events, the average times from 2009 and 2022 are very close. In most events, on average, the swimmers have been swimming as fast as, or even faster, than in the super-suit era. But not that much.

We can say that the 2008-2009 performances were way ahead of their time because of their suits. By this analysis, it seems that only now swimmers are at the same level of the super-suited swimmers from 13-14 years ago. They were more than a decade ahead of their time.