The bottom line is this: adidas will not make its Hydrofoil available to Americans for their trials, just a couple of weeks out from competition in Rome. You can read the full story at the Washington Post's splendid must-visit reachforthewall.com site.
Available has for a very long time at the elite end of the sport meant that a swimmer gets to try out a suit well in advance of having to show up to their blocks at a world championships. But "high-tech" apparently means that, while the kit is complex and commands a very high price, you can just take one of the peg like a GAP t-shirt and feel the best you've ever felt when checking out the scoreboard that measures your progress.
Adidas will, supposedly, have to comply in that suits room in Rome and hand out a suit that fits to any American who walks through the door and says "I want one". And if one swimmer is turned away, then the suit, and any other that is "not available" must be banned from the championships under the conditions laid down by FINA.
All suit makers are now busily trying to second guess how much stock in how many models and sizes they will need to avoid accusations in Rome that their device is not "available".
The folk at Rocket got in touch this week after we reminded readers that there are people out there making fast suits who think a human lung is the same as a suit when it comes to helping performance. The good news is this: Rocket tell me that if FINA say tomorrow "briefs for men and shoulder to hip suits for women in textile", they intend to remain a player in the sport and invest in swimmers and coaches and programmes and will cut their cloth accordingly.
Fabulous news. I have had similar replies from three other relative newcomers to the race pool market, and those replies and that stance of Rocket tells us all one thing: it is absolute baloney to suggest that less money will flow into swimming if the fast bodysuits are sunk.
