Under Armour speedsuits blamed for poor US speedskating performances

coldasice, willingtosacrifice wrote:

What if they shaved, like swimmers. Is there really less drag from a speedsuit than from bare shaved skin?

This isn't intuitive, but a smooth surface isn't necessarily the lowest drag. A common example is the dimples in a golf ball. The reason has to do with the shape of the airflow behind the object. Hence it's not entirely clear that shaved skin is lower drag than skin with body hair and it's almost a certainty that some fabric exists that nets less drag than bare skin.

For what it's worth, the swimming world records dropped dramatically over the last decade largely because of clothing technology.

It's NOT the suits...

I'd be curious to hear a few thoughts on how you might "fix" speed skating?

You've got a sport that has no professional level. It is totally up to your parents to foot the bill. When I skated, from 1971 - 1984 (US National team 1980-81) it was the same way.

Kids whose parents had more money DEFINITELY had access to better coaching, better equipment, more ice time, etc, etc. While the better skaters mostly came from well-to-do families, that was not ALWAYS true. Dan Jansen came from a working class Milwaukee family (I believe Mr Jansen was a cop). Eric Heiden's dad was a Dr. and Apolo had a single dad supporting him.

Opportunity plays a big role.

Like other sports (like running), many skaters have different coaches. And here-in lies one of the major problems with the skating union on how to deal with this fact. As I have seen, there is a ton of politics involved as to who gets access to the coaches. Back when I was skating you would think it was a pretty cut-and-dry process to make a National team but it wasn't it was all politics. Once you make a national team it is a huge in road to pontential Olympic stardom.

enough rambling...