FINA has just announced the suits list for 2009. At first glance, the LZR, responsible for the bulk of performance-enhancement in 2008, makes it for this summer, but no sign of the arena X-Glide in which Alain Bernard and Yulia Efimova set world records, no sign of the Jaked 01 in which Fred Bousquet scorched a 20.94, no sign of the BlueSeventy in which several others world s/c records were set. Here is the FINA statement:

The FINA Commission in charge of the swimwear approval, formed by representatives of the FINA Executive, FINA Technical Swimming Committee, FINA Coaches Commission, FINA Athletes Commission, and FINA Legal 

Councillor had a meeting on May 18, 2009 in Lausanne (SUI) and after reviewing 348 swimsuits from 21 manufacturers forwarded its proposal to the FINA Executive, who decided the following: 

•  202 swimsuits approved;  
• 10 swimsuits rejected for not passing the tests of buoyancy and/or thickness; 
•  136 swimsuits to be modified in accordance with “Dubai Charter” rule 3.1 c), as they don’t fulfil the requirement stating that “swimsuit material shall not be constructed to or include elements/systems which create air/water trapping effects during use”. The manufacturers have now a deadline of maximum 30 days (until June 19, 2009) to resubmit the same swimsuit for FINA approval, with the corresponding corrections (“Dubai Charter” rule 4.3 d). 

 The complete list of approved swimsuits (valid until December 31, 2009) can be found on the FINA official website at www.fina.org. [See full list at the foot of this article]

 Meeting FINA/Swimming Coaches 

On May 19, 2009 FINA and a group of swimming coaches coming from 18 countries met at the EPFL (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology) in Lausanne (SUI), where Prof Jan- Anders Manson, Director of the Laboratory of Polymer and Composite Technology, presented the procedures of the testing process defined on the FINA swimwear approval regulations.  

The exchange of opinions was very constructive and the direction to be taken on the swimwear approval process is certainly better understood. 

The approved list below was later added to (three missing from the original list of 199):  Speedo LZR Racer full, LZR Racer pants - long and LZR Racer pants - short.

The approved suits list for 2009:

• Adidas

TechfitPowerwebS8140602BJ  B85779full TechfitPowerwebS8140603BJ B85777SLfull TechfitPowerwebS8140609BJ  B85762full - knee TechfitPowerwebS8140607BJ  B85768pants - long TechfitPowerwebS8140606BJ  B85771pants - short

• Agon Sport L.L.C.

2009 full - knee 2009 pants - long 2009 pants - short

• Akron SRL

HalifaxAllisonfull HalifaxBusterfull HalifaxArkpants - long

• Arena Italia S.p.A.

Powerskin2512450full Powerskin2512850full Powerskin2512550full Powerskin2710650pants - long Powerskin2906850classic Powerskin2710550pants-short Powerskin  R-Evolution2522850full Powerskin  R-Evolution2522750full Powerskin  R-Evolution2522650full Powerskin  R-Evolution2786650full - knee Powerskin  R-Evolution2522550full - knee Powerskin  R-Evolution2522450full - knee Powerskin  R-Evolution2786250pants- long Powerskin  R-Evolution2786550pants-short Powerskin R-evolution +2525650full Powerskin R-evolution +2525450full Powerskin R-evolution +2525350full Powerskin R-evolution +2525750full - knee Powerskin R-evolution +2525550full - knee Powerskin R-evolution +2790050pants - long Powerskin X-treme2513850full Powerskin X-treme2514350full Powerskin X-treme2513950full Powerskin X-treme2513750full - knee Powerskin X-treme2514450full - knee Powerskin X-treme2514250full - knee Powerskin X-treme2731750pants - long Powerskin X-treme2925450classic Powerskin X-treme2737650pants-short

• Asics Corporation

TILALS503full TILALS505full TILAMA503pants - long TILAMA502pants - short TILALS502pants - short TILALS500classic TILALS504classic TILAMA501classic TILALS501classic TIL - ClothAMX964-4full TIL - ClothALX964-5full TIL - ClothALX964-6full TIL - ClothAMX964-3pants - long TIL - Functional Layered SystemAMA515full TIL - Functional Layered SystemALS515full TIL - Functional Layered SystemAMA516pants - long TIL - Functional Layered SystemAMA511inner tights TIL - Functional Layered SystemALS511inner tights TIL - Functional Layered SystemAMA510inner top TIL - Functional Layered SystemALS510inner top TIL +AMX1087full TIL +AMX1087-2full TIL +AMX1087full TIL +AMX1098full TIL +AMX1086full TIL +AMX1085full TIL +ALX1085-2full TIL +ALX1085full TIL +ALX1086full TIL +ALX1098full TIL +AMX1088pants - long TIL +AMX1088-2pants - long TIL +AMX1088pants - long TIL +AMX1083classic TIL +ALX1083classic

• Descente LTD

III jan09 full III jan09 full III jan09 full III jan09 full - knee III jan09 pants - long III jan09 pants - short IV jan09 full IV jan09 full IV jan09 full IV jan09 full - knee IV jan09 pants - long IV jan09 pants - short I mar09 full I mar09 pants - long I mar09 full I mar09 full I mar09 classic I mar09 full - knee I mar09 classic I mar09 pants - short III mar09 full III mar09 full III mar09 full III mar09 full - knee III mar09 pants - long III mar09 pants - short III mar09 classic

• Diana Sport

Submarine Shinning Arrow232M SAfull Submarine Shinning Arrow250W SAfull Submarine Shinning Arrow251W SAfull Submarine Shinning Arrow233M SAfull - knee Submarine Shinning Arrow253W SAfull - knee Submarine Shinning Arrow230M SApants - long Submarine Thermo Fusion202Mfull Submarine Thermo Fusion210Wfull Submarine Thermo Fusion221Wfull Submarine Thermo Fusion203Mfull - knee Submarine Thermo Fusion213Wfull - knee Submarine Thermo Fusion200Mpants - long Submarine Thermo Fusion201Mpants - short Submarine Thermo Fusion219Wclassic

• Finis Inc.

Amphibian pants - long AmphibianATS8-LTM28pants - long AmphibianATS8-JM28pants - short Amphibian Long JohnATS8-LJM32full Amphibian Long JohnATS8-LJF30full Amphibian Short JohnATS8-SJM31full - knee Amphibian Short JohnATS8-SJF30full - knee Hydrospeed 2 Brief1.10.131.101.28classic Hydrospeed 2 Clipback1.10.024.101.28classic Hydrospeed 2 Jammer1.10.132.101.28pants - short Hydrospeed 2 Race John1.10.025.101.28full - knee

• Jaked SRL

J03 full J03 pants - long

• Kiwami

Kameleon full - knee

• Mizuno Corporation

Accel Suits full Accel Suits pants - long Swimsuit A85RB-100full Swimsuit A85RB-101full Swimsuit A85OB-100full Swimsuit A85OB-110  Swimsuit A85OB-111full Swimsuit A85RB-10009full Swimsuit A85RD-100pants - short Swimsuit A85RC-100pants - long Water gene85RB-850full Water gene85OB-850full Water gene85OB-851full Water gene85OC-850full - knee Water gene85OD-850pants - long Water gene85RC-850  Water gene85RD-850 

• Orca

RS1 full - knee RS1 full - knee

• Rocket Science Sports

Rocket Light classic Rocket Light   Rocket Sprinter   Rocket Sprinter   Rocket Trainer classic Rocket Trainer   Swimskin SuitSleeveless (Rocket 2Skin)full

• Sailfish GmbH

Sailfish furious full - knee Sailfish furious long full

• Speedo

Flying Fish body no arms8-05887full Flying Fish Body no arms8-05889full Flying Fish Brief8-05892classic Flying Fish Jammer8-05891pants - short Flying Fish Legskin8-05890pants - long Flying Fish recordbreaker bodyskin8-05886full Flying Fish recordbreaker kneeskin8-05885full - knee Flying Fish strikeback8-05888classic LZR Racer Pro Body Skin No Arms full LZR Racer Pro Body Skin No Arms full LZR Racer Pro Jammer pants - short LZR Racer Pro Leg Skin pants - long LZR Racer Pro Record Breaker classic LZR Racer Pro Record Breaker Body full LZR Racer Pro Record Breaker Knee Skin full - knee Japanese LZR HybridSPE015full Japanese LZR HybridSPE015full Japanese LZR HybridSPE015full - knee Japanese LZR HybridSPE015pants - long Japanese LZR HybridSPE015pants-short Fastskin Pro8 008093218pants - short Fastskin Pro8 008133218full Fastskin Pro8 008153218classic Fastskin Pro8 008143218full - knee Fastskin Pro8 008053218full Aquablade8 205157031classic Aquablade10 072 7031classic Aquablade8 101077031pants - short Fastskin8 100090001pants - short Fastskin8 100080001pants - long Fastskin8 202230001full - knee

• Sports Hig

F-09 full M-12 pants- long M-01A pants- long M-10 pants- long M-08 pants- long

• Tyr Sports Inc.

A12 full A7 full A10 full

• Yamamotohokosyo Corporation

YH-M-F pants - long YH-M-F2 pants - long