Speedo Announces New Backstroke Tech Suit Designed with Olympic Champ Ryan Murphy

Continuing to lead on innovation in swimming, Speedo launches the world’s premier tech suit designed for backstrokers today.

The LZR Pure Intent Backstroke Edition is FINA-approved and has been optimized for the stroke. It was designed by the renowned Aqualab team in collaboration with Team Speedo’s four-time Olympic Gold medallist and reigning 200m backstroke world champion Ryan Murphy.

Speaking about the launch, Murphy said: “I’m really excited to be able to launch the LZR Pure Intent Backstroke Edition. We’ve spent a long time making sure this suit is perfect and I have worked very closely with everybody in the Aqualab team to help get us to this stage.

“In every sport I see specific equipment for specific positions and that’s an opportunity that swimming has to explore. Each stroke in this sport is very different and the technical aspects for each is very different. The most important part in any stroke is body positioning and I think this suit helps me get into a really efficient body position. In backstroke, when you get tired your legs start to drop and this suit helps them to stay on the surface.”

Working in tandem across the launch of Speedo’s LZR Pure Intent and LZR Pure Valor suits, as well as on this project, Speedo has been able to combine the knowledge of the Aqualab team – which consists of experts in textile technology, garment engineering, sport science, computational fluid dynamics, testing protocol and design – with the expert feedback of Murphy to produce a suit which matches the exacting standards of one of the world’s best backstrokers.

Driven by direct insights from Murphy, the suit features new band technology and will see the power bands, traditionally on the rear of the suit, switched to the front to support powerful leg kicks, promotes a streamlined body position and drives the swimmer’s hips up – helping to reduce fatigue at the end of a race.

The Backstroke Edition suit will also feature the same triple fabric construction as the original LZR Pure Intent and Pure Valor suits which have accounted for 56% of world records since they were released in 2019. The use of three fabrics alongside bonded seams encourages greater movement and a more natural, strong and secure fit for the swimmers. It also features the same textured fabric zones will target drag reduction for optimal performance whilst the premium waistband will help to reduce water ingress.

Dr Rob Blenkinsopp, Head of Innovation, Speedo Aqualab said: “We are always looking at ways we can produce the best suit possible for our athletes and when Ryan approached us about a specialist backstroke suit, we were really excited to see what we could do.

“He already had some great ideas on how to tweak the suits to fit his needs and so along with Ryan we had designers, material experts and engineers all come together to develop the suit. We have looked at the biomechanics and the anatomy of the human body and then attributed that to backstroke swimming and taken all that knowledge, plus Ryan’s expertise, and put it in to making the LZR Pure Intent Backstroke Edition. We recognise that recognise that all swimmers and their strokes are different and this is the first step towards thinking differently about how we deliver performance suits for backstrokers.

The LZR Pure Intent Backstroke Edition is available to purchase from major swim specialists and www.speedo.com

About Speedo

The world’s leading swimwear brand, Speedo® is passionate about life in and around the water, creating revolutionary new technologies, designs and innovations, and supports swimming from grass-roots through to the elite level. In the 1920s Speedo® made history with the Racerback: the world’s first non-wool suit. In 2008 Speedo® redefined swimwear again with Fastskin® LZR RACER® – the fastest and most technologically advanced swimsuit ever created. 2011 saw Speedo unveil another world first with the Fastskin Racing System – a cap, goggle and suit designed to work together as one. Speedo® is owned by Speedo Holdings B.V and distributed in over 170 countries around the world. To find out more visit: www.speedo.com

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Bring back the supersuits!
2 years ago

They already put out a superior suit in 2009. It’s time to bring it back.

Flybkbrfr
2 years ago

Didn’t Arena try stroke specific suits in the 90s? Didn’t take off. Now kids are going to buy multiple suits for a given weekend of racing. Also, what is good for Murph, is it going to be good for the swimming community?just asking….

DCSwim
Reply to  Flybkbrfr
2 years ago

There were also stroke suits during the super suit era. Like a backstroke full body that had more material on the back iirc

B1Guy!
2 years ago

Was he wearing this when he lost the WR?

FST
Reply to  B1Guy!
2 years ago

Evil… but I did have a good chuckle 😂

Last edited 2 years ago by FST
Meathead
2 years ago

About time we see event specific suits. No way a 100 back/200 breast/1500 free are all optimized with the exact same uniform

swimmer
2 years ago

Inflation got jammers too. $430 for a jammer

Yerkidding
2 years ago

Haven’t used any of their recent suits but glad that Speedo is putting more money into suit development. The old lzr elite was good but wore out too fast and the lzr x was the worst tech suit I ever put on.

Fly 100
2 years ago

Oh no-stroke apecific suits…can’t wait for the one for i.m. that changes(morphs) at each transition.

Caeleb's Dressing
Reply to  Fly 100
2 years ago

LMFAO

Bring back the supersuits!
Reply to  Caeleb's Dressing
2 years ago

Caeleb’s dressing is very watery and salty because of all the tears that fell into it.

swimlikeafishdrinklikeafish
2 years ago

Crazy Expensive, you can get mizunos for way cheaper

Swim nerd
Reply to  swimlikeafishdrinklikeafish
2 years ago

Well in Japan the convert to a little over 200, so yeah, you’re definitely right