Sticking With Speedo

Britain's Gemma Spofforth believes wearing a Speedo LZR Racer helped her win the 100m backstroke title at the World Championships in Rome. Spofforth decided to stick with her Speedo suit, just as Michael Phelps famously did when he won the 100m butterfly at World Championships. Her decision not to wear a "supersuit" like the Jaked, or Arena X-Glide Suit mentally propelled her to finish first. Spofforth set a new world record of 58.12seconds in the 100m backstroke.

Spofforth stated, "I had so many meetings with different coaches saying I was putting myself at a disadvantage not wearing it and wearing it wasn't cheating.

"And it was about putting myself on the same level as everybody else I was racing against.

"And I was like 'if I get a world record in a suit is that really a world record?' That was one of my things.

Nearly 190 world records have been set since the Speedo LZR became available in February 2008, 43 world records have been broken in Rome alone.

sportinglife.com