COLUMBUS, OHIO -- With most of the nation's best swimmers scheduled to compete at the Toyota Grand Prix here this weekend, record-breaking performances might take a back seat to the swimsuit competition.
The Speedo LZR Racer, a $550 seamless, water-resistant swimsuit, has dominated pre-Olympic meets, and its use has been praised - and questioned - because of its cutting-edge technology and high price tag.
Since the suit's debut in February, 18 long-course world records have fallen, 17 of them to LZR-clad athletes. The Australian Olympic trials produced eight world marks in eight days. Swimmers at the European championships last month set six world records. At the British championships Wednesday, the record in the 50-meter backstroke fell to a swimmer in a LZR.
Not surprisingly, Michael Phelps, the six-time Olympic gold medalist from Rodgers Forge and Speedo's top pitchman with a multimillion-dollar deal, gave the suit this endorsement: "I remember trying it for the first time in Canterbury [Australia] with Ryan Lochte, and it just felt like I was a rocket coming off the wall. It feels like a spacesuit. I'm excited to see the results."
Katie Hoff of the North Baltimore Aquatic Club, who also has a seven-figure contract with Speedo, set a U.S. mark in the 400-meter freestyle at the Missouri Grand Prix in February in her LZR. Hoff said of the new suit, "I feel like I'm right on top of the water and the water is going past me and not slowing me down at all."
Natalie Coughlin broke her own world record in the 100-meter backstroke at the same event while wearing one of the suits.
FINA, swimming's international governing body, approved the LZR for the Beijing Olympics so long as it is available for all competitors. But with records falling like rain, the matter is on the agenda at a meeting of FINA officials this month in England. Manufacturers will have to answer questions about the thickness of the suit and its availability for all swimmers, but it's not likely to affect the use of the suits in Beijing.
"There are buoyancy issues," FINA executive director Cornel Marculescu told SwimNews.com.
But Speedo insists nothing is amiss because FINA was involved in every step of the suit's development.
Mark Schubert, head coach of USA Swimming, echoes that sentiment, calling the new technology "very exciting" and labeling criticism a case of competitive sour grapes instigated by other swimsuit manufacturers.
