With 2015’s first events underway, and all eyes
focused on this year’s World Championships in Kazan, Russia, arena – the global
brand of water instinct – has once again expanded its best-in-class family of
racing suits. With
the addition of the Powerskin Carbon-Air, arena is the only swimsuit
manufacturer to offer its most elite technology in three unique styles.
The Powerskin Carbon-Air is the latest
innovation to leverage the company’s breakthrough carbon technology,
utilizing an ultra lightweight fabric focused on maximizing swimmer comfort,
while still applying the range’s trademark Intelligent Compression. The new
suit, now available globally, debuted at January’s Arena Pro Swim Series at
Austin, where it was worn by Olympic medalists Breeja Larson and Cammile Adams,
as well as American record-holder and Olympian Connor Jaeger. The U.S. National Teamers
combined for three golds and two bronze medals at the event.
In addition, arena is proud to announce
the Powerskin Carbon-Flex World Championship Edition, an exclusive
swimsuit line created to showcase the Carbon range and celebrate arena’s role
as FINA’s official sponsor and technical partner against the backdrop of 2015’s
premier swimming event in Kazan, Russia, from 24 July – 9 August. Available in
two striking charcoal gray/fluorescent yellow color combinations, the launch of
the Carbon-Flex WCE marks the first time a new swimsuit design has been
specifically associated with the World Championships.
Powerskin
Carbon-Air – Intelligent Compression meets Comfort
The Powerskin Carbon-Air is arena’s latest racing suit
to employ carbon technology through the integration of horizontal Carbon Bands
into the suit’s ultra lightweight woven fabric.
In the water, the Carbon Bands lock down at a critical
stretch point to provide lateral support and control when and where it’s
needed. This lighter form of Comfortable Compression helps to improve swimmer
performance without compromising the suit’s unbeatable comfort.
Powerskin Carbon-Air’s fabric weighs in at an incredibly
light 125 g/m2 – 30% lighter than that used in Carbon-Pro – making the suit
feel like a second skin. In addition, the SmartStretch shoulder straps in
women’s styles are made using carefully selected materials and a special
manufacturing process to reduce tension on the shoulders, offering a unique
form of “intelligent stretching”, and enhancing comfort. Finally, the smart
simplicity of the design gives the suit a sleek construction, which allows the
swimmer complete freedom of movement, and makes it exceptionally easy to put
on. The result is a cutting-edge racing suit that is unmatched for sheer
comfort.
Athletes
First – In Research & Design
Powerskin Carbon-Air is the result of arena’s
continuous R&D effort, incorporating intensive swimmer testing and feedback,
a hallmark of the company’s development process. In the United States, tests
were conducted in 2014 with over 120 swimmers from four NCAA college teams
including Auburn (men & women), Texas (women) and Berkeley (men), among
others. Athlete feedback was excellent and enthusiastic: the women appreciated
the remarkable ease of putting on the suit, as well as its feeling of freedom,
while the men found similar benefits and identified the Powerskin Carbon-Air as
a great suit for longer distance events.
arena North America’s team of sponsored athletes was
also involved in the testing, and the following Team USA swimmers had this to
say:
“I couldn’t believe how easy it was to put on the new
Carbon-Air. It was as fast and easy out of the water as it was in. I felt
smooth and light, and enjoyed the total freedom of motion in the water.”
– Cammile Adams (200 fly Pan Pacific Champion)
– Cammile Adams (200 fly Pan Pacific Champion)
“As a distance swimmer, the light construction and
smooth feel was comfortable and easy for me. I could feel just the right level of compression
off the blocks and turns, but still felt free for my entire swim.”
– Connor Jaeger (American Record Holder and 2012 Olympian)
– Connor Jaeger (American Record Holder and 2012 Olympian)
Powerskin
Carbon-Flex World Championship Edition
Launched
in 2014, the Powerskin Carbon-Flex became the second suit in the Powerskin
Carbon Series, introducing the V-Flex System, a unique, innovative and
patented construction developed by arena’s scientific network. While retaining
carbon technology’s core components – Intelligent Compression and the Power Return
System – strategic placement of the seams in the Carbon-Flex introduced greater
flexibility, delivering complete freedom of movement around the hips, glutes,
and shoulders.
For 2015, arena is releasing a special Powerskin
Carbon-Flex World Championship Edition (WCE) to showcase the year’s
premier swimming event in Kazan, Russia, from July 24–August 9, where arena, as
a key partner of FINA, will be a major technical sponsor.
From a design perspective, the new suit incorporates
updates to the blueprint of the original Carbon-Flex based on feedback received
from athletes over the past year, along with an exciting new fluo green/steel
grey color palette. With women’s suits, strategic placement of the seams
anchors tension at the back center, providing a torsional platform off which
the swimmers can leverage their strokes and kicks. For men’s jammers, there are no
taped seams along the waistline, which eliminates disturbances and stress
points along the waist, and gives the suit exceptional fit and feel.
Those involved in the original testing and feedback
process included:
Tom Shields, American Record-holder and 2014 National
Champion: “I have been racing in the Carbon-Flex for a full year now, and
have found great success in the suit. The
expanded range of motion combined with the power return construction, and
external taping gives me an extra push off the walls and blocks, and helps keep
me high in the water.”
Breeja Larson, 2012 Olympic Gold Medalist: “While
I love that arena offers options in its Powerskin Carbon line, I am a big fan
of the Carbon-Flex. As
a breaststroker, the extra range of motion in the hips combined with the
strategic taping and compression is the perfect combination of technology and
comfort.”
arena’s Carbon Technology
arena was the first company to use carbon fiber in the
manufacture of swimwear, leveraging its inherent strength and stiffness to
serve as a protective web that regulates stretching by stiffening the fabric
once a critical stress level is reached, thus preventing uneven stress damage.
The company’s debut model for this ground-breaking new
technology, the Powerskin Carbon-Pro, was released in 2012 in anticipation of
the London Olympic Games, with a design that integrated carbon fibers into the
weave of the swimsuit’s lightweight spandex-nylon fabric. It made an emphatic
statement in London, with arena athletes winning an impressive grand total of
35 medals, including 10 gold medals and 4 world records. The following year, at
the 2013 World Championships held in Barcelona, arena swimmers brought home
more than half of all the swimming medals, of which 23 were gold with three new
world records. The trend continued with the introduction of the Powerskin
Carbon-Flex, and at the 2014 World Short Course Championships in Doha, athletes
using arena’s carbon technology suits once again excelled with more than half
all medals won, including 23 golds and 7 new world records.
The fundamental benefit for using carbon threads in
this way is Intelligent Compression – the carbon thread framework locks
down like a seatbelt as critical stretch levels kick in, giving maximum
compression on over-extended zones, increasing support and control when and
where it’s needed, and boosting performance through reduced drag, improved
efficiency, and maximum power. At
the same time, the stretch fabric retains its elasticity, remaining comfortable
without affecting the swimmer’s freedom of movement.
The
strength of the carbon fibers also improve the suit’s surface integrity, which
means there is less chance of tearing or damage that can result from extreme
stretching when putting the suit on, while in the water it serves to maximize
drag reduction and optimize water repellence.
With the Powerskin carbon-Pro and Carbon-Flex, the
athlete also benefits from the design’s Power Return System, through which the
strategic placement of low profile bonded seams and elasticized tapes stores
potential energy, which is released during dives, kicks and turns to maximize
efficiency, power, and speed.
Together,
these features combine to give the swimmer full coverage from the moment they
put the suit on, to the starting blocks, and finally where it matters most – in
the water.
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