Best Open Water Swimming Suit

At the 2008 World Open Water Swimming Championships in Seville, arguably the most pressure-packed, competitive, fast-paced open water swimming race in history, other than the Olympic 10K Marathon Swim , it was interesting to note the types of swim suits worn by the athletes.

On the women’s side, I was able to confirm the following competitive suits that the athletes wore in the 10K Olympic qualification swim:

Speedo – 22
blueseventy – 7
TYR – 5
Arena – 4
Adidas – 2
NIKE – 1
Diana – 1

On the men’s side, I was able to confirm the following swim suits that the athletes wore:

Speedo – 12
blueseventy – 12
Arena – 8
TYR – 3
Adidas – 3

It must be noted that I was only able to confirm the suits of 42 of the 51 female swimmers in the competition and 38 of the 55 male swimmers due to the myriad activities at the start and finish of the event. I observed these suits with a colleague while we were standing near the starting dock before each of the 10K races on May 3rd (women) and May 4th (men), 2008

NOTE: this information should NOT be taken as definitive information or an implied or explicit endorsement of any particular suit style or manufacturer. As any manufacturer, coach, swimmer or data analyst knows, the unknown information on the remaining 9 female swimmers and the remaining 17 male swimmers can change the interpretation of the information presented. Additionally, some federations had required swimmers to wear certain swim suits, while other federations left the decision up to the athletes.

Upper photo taken just before the start of the women's Olympic 10K qualification race at the 2008 World Open Water Swimming Championships.

Lower photo taken by Giorgio Scala of Deep Blue Media.