NEW YORK — Speedo is taking what it has learned in the pool and bringing it to the slopes.
The swimwear giant has developed a line of high-tech suits to be worn by sledding athletes at the Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy, marking the first time it has had a presence in winter sports.
The Fastskin FSII Ice Speed Suit builds on the aerodynamic technology Speedo used in its performance swimsuits at the Summer Games in Athens last year and in Sydney in 2000. They are designed to reduce friction drag by fitting like a second skin.
Speedo is sponsoring a handful of sledders for the Winter Games, including Vonetta Flowers, Noelle Pikus-Pace, Todd Hays, Chris Soule and Jean Prahm, who also helped develop and test the Ice Suits. The Winter Games will take place from Feb. 10 to 26.
“We wanted to do winter suits because we are in the continual pursuit of speed,” said Sheree Waterson, president of Speedo North America, a division of Warnaco Swim Group. “Our dominance in the water is built around a research and development process that engages the world’s best swimmers. By extending this approach to sledding athletes, we applied what Speedo has learned through years in the pool to the ice.”
Craig Brommers, Speedo’s vice president of marketing, noted that “drag” is the enemy of both sliders and swimmers. “The same properties apply,” he said.
There are a few differences in the winter suits from the swim styles. For example, some versions will have hoods as well as foot and hand stirrups, and the fabric has been modified to reduce drag based on airflow direction for sledding sports, not on waves from the pool. The high-tech suit is also designed to allow athletes to better feel the sled and the track in order to make adjustments during competition. The texture is similar to the swim styles in that its designed to mimic sharskin. The Ice speed suits were tested extensively at Allied Aerospace in San Diego and on the ice at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Lake Placid, N.Y.
There is also a selection of suits available for consumers exclusively at the Speedo Web site, speedo.com, which will retail for $500, Brommers said.
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Speedo has been developing in other new arenas. Last year it launched an activewear line under the Axcelerate brand, and this year, it expanded that label into swimwear. The company has also been building up offerings of triathlon apparel.
Brommers said Speedo has already had interest in the Ice Speed suits from federations and athletes around world.
“The world’s largest sporting stage is the Olympics,” he said. “We have been a dominant player in the Summer Games, and this allows us to have a presence at the Winter Games also and have a presence every two years.”