Lots Of Speedos On Swimmers.

[Minimalist75]

Don't know if it's high school v college or a change in the past 10 years, but when my son swam in high school, the young men mostly wore jammers and speedos were rare.

[California Dolphin]

Jammers look and feel just plain WEIRD and I suspect swimmers are getting tired of this annoying fad and going back to speedos.

I used to have a couple of jammers that I picked up on sale and I just wore them as underwear, but not as shorts.

They are the worst feeling thing I've ever worn and they produce chafing, accumulate sweat, and gave me a severe case of jock itch.

A prime example of "Good For Nothing" and I wound up throwing them in the garbage.

[Torchwatch]

I bought my first proper racing bike in 1984 and got Lycra cycle shorts and fingerless mitts to wear while riding. They felt right on a bike, my points of contact and the bike itself becoming one with me. Later that year I bought my first mountain bike and again rode it with Lycra cycle shorts and mitts.
In 1987 I did my first triathlon around Canterbury in Kent. I wore a tri suit for the event, a vest and cycle shorts suit with expansion zips down the legs for the run. I actually wore a shorty wet suit over it for the swim, it's cold in the sea in Whitstable, but stripped down to the tri suit for the cycle ride and run. I was comfortable in the tri suit on both these sections.

Later I bought some Lycra running shorts, they were made from only 4 panels (cycle shorts have 6 or even 8 panels) and I immediately hated them as soon as I ran in them. As a runner I'd always worn short split sided nylon running shorts and had enjoyed the feeling of freedom they gave. Although I was happy to run in Lycra running tights in colder weather I disliked the Lycra running shorts.

I bought some Lycra jammers when they came out and again disliked them compared to the Speedos I was then swimming in. They were less comfortable that classic 2" Speedos when in the water and being Lycra created considerably more drag. If I had bought seriously expensive sharkskin jammers they may have created less drag but worn very tight have been more uncomfortable. I went cycle camping in Northern France and wore the jammers around the campsite and between the campsite and the beach. They were more comfortable for walking about in the cycle shorts, but I didn't bother swimming in them.

In conclusion Lycra cycle shorts are good on a bike (much better than baggy shorts with a chamois liner), a Lycra tri suit works for a triathlon although not ideal for any of the 3 events, I personally dislike Lycra running shorts for middle to longer distance runs although they may be more suitable for sprinters and Lycra swimming jammers may look like the high performance sharkskin jammers worn at international level but they are less comfortable and perform less well than a simple pair of swim briefs.

Although I enjoy wearing Lycra and have sewn Lycra clothing from a thong to a full body suit I have also engaged in various sports and realise that each sport evolved it's own style of clothing that worked well until the 1990's when fashion took over.

[Swimmboy]

Most college teams compete in the brief Speedo style suits - I was at a tri-meet a week ago (three large teams from the U.S. East Coast) and every guy wore the brief suit - not one pair of jammers. BUT, the jammers are believed to be faster (smooth fabric, and hold thigh muscles in place), so jammers are preferred at the end-of-season conference and national championships - at those meets, probably 95% of guys will wear jammers. So if you want to see swim meets with guys in the briefer suits, you have just a couple more weeks - by mid-February, the conference meets will be taking place.

[California Dolphin]

I've been researching athletic suits for the past 10 years and it seems there's definitely a trend toward the pre 90's look and feel.

These videos are fairly recent and the shorter look is making a come back:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wkcZMgsVEgY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mB3wigo8BB0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RfO1cWaETN0

https://www.dhgate.com/product/men-t...411813182.html