By: Jackson Liu

On November 15, 2023, Popular swimwear company Speedo released two new swimsuits for the 2008 LZ brand, the LZR Pure Intent 2.0 and LZR Pure Valor 2.0. The first versions of these two swimsuits were used in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and athletes wearing them broke 52 percent of all individual swimming records and won 61 percent of all swimming gold medals. Michael Phelps, a competitive swimmer, won 8 medals while wearing a lzr swimsuit in the Beijing olympics.

The 2.0 of the LZ brand uses Lamoral Space Tech, which is also used to protect satellites in space. This coating makes suits 6 times as waterproof as previous ones and lessens drag, one of the primary forces that slow you down in the water. Australian Libby Lenton said that the suit made her feel like she was swimming downhill. The difference between a gold medal and a silver medal is often a hundredth of a second. Even if less drag only improves your speed a little bit, it could still decide whether you get gold or silver.

Five professional swimmers will be trying out the new swimsuits in the 2024 Paris Olympics starting on July 27th, 2024. These swimmers include Ryan Murphy, who has won four gold medals in backstroke and maintains a world record for backstroke 100 meters, Caeleb Dressel, who is exceptional at freestyle and butterfly, and Regan Smith, who has set records for backstroke and won medals for butterfly.

In a race, losing and winning often are only a fraction of a second apart. Even the slightest improvement in swimming speed could give you an advantage over other contestants.