World Aquatics created its first list of approved wearables ahead of the 2023 World Championships in Fukuoka, Japan.
The list, approved on July 5, 2023, includes a wide range of wearable technology, including heart rate monitors, GPS trackers, Glucose sensors, general sensors, and a transponder. A total of 11 products have been approved.
A total of seven manufacturers have so far have had devices approved. That includes heart rate monitors from major brands like Garmin and Polar, those from swim-specific brands like Tritonwear (the Triton 2 unit), and even a German research institute, FES Institut.
World Aquatics (then FINA) allowed wearable technology in races beginning on January 1, 2023, with the restriction that the devices cannot be used to transmit data, sounds, or signals to the swimmer.
It is not clear how widespread the use of these devices are at this time, as they weren’t clearly visible in any athletes at the World Championships or Pan American Games.
Tritonwear is a SwimSwam partner.
I hope this doesn’t turn into a technological arms race, but it could be hard to “prove” a device is transmitting or not. Look no further than the world of chess…
I think the big value to this is for the in-season races. Gather more precise data, understand where to focus training on and then race as normal.
I think it would be more helpful (in pool competitions), to have time displaying clocks at the 50 on floor of the pool. Or at the both ends of the pool. I think it would help a lot for races 200, 400, 800 and 1500. Maybe some records like the 400 or the 1500 for men would have fallen already with the athletes being able to pace it a little better if the know what time they are doing each 50.
In track and field the Athelets can see their time while racing
Thorpe with that 3:38.9 would’ve been wild
Is there anything fundamentally wrong with data being transmitted mid-race? Think it would be huge for distance swimmers. At the lower levels where few would have the advantage I’d be for a restriction.
But where would the line be drawn?
It’s easier to ban the transmission mid race altogether to avoid potential debacle.
Remember how the whole rubber suit debacle started when Speedo decided to put rubber panels on 50% of suit surface.
I don’t know what the use would be during an actual race, but having the data in addition to a video might help guide training.
Surprised whoop not on here
Knowing whoop they were probably busy developing a new $100 sleep mask rather paying attention to areas their product is actually useful
Fine for practice, but any legit competition should go without. For open water swims that want to be recognized as “official”, swimmers cannot wear any of these devices.
1) ratification of extreme open water swims does not have that much in common with competitive pool swims, and 2) I looked through ratification rules from several organizations and for several swims, from several orgs, and none of them specifically outlawed these devices. In fact, WOWSA specifically differentiates them as “non performance enhancing” devices.
“Wearable Electronic Devices for Data Logging: Devices that solely log data without transmitting it to the swimmer do not actively provide real-time information or immediate performance benefits during the swim. They serve the purpose of collecting data for later analysis or tracking purposes”
Thanks for weighing in – I was speaking from my own experience in events and should have been clear on that. EventsI have done went by “Channel Rules” which state:
Wear one swimming hat, a pair of goggles and standard issue swimming costume.
I just checked on WOWSA, and they indicate: WOWSA 3.2 – Swim Gear:
- If permitted by the Race Director, athletes may wear
… Read more »Focusing on the 0.1% ….
Athletes – and coaches ….DO NOT know how to read these data …all marketing hype…what’s the point??
It’s easy to learn…