The supersuit theory (swimming)

Watching the Pan-Pacs times and comparing them to the host of world records set when the supersuits took over for a brief and thankfully bygone era, I formulated a theory about why some swims came closer to WRs than others. The theory is pretty simple and probably not that earth-shakking, but to this point I haven't seen anyone else espouse it.

The theory is: the faster a swimmer was moving through the water, the more the suits helped them go faster. I.e., more speed would normally produce more drag, and thus the effects of the suits were more pronounced at higher in-water speed.

Thus, I'd expect that the harder WRs to break will be in the freestyle, then the stroke sprints. The longer and slower the race, the better chance that swimmers will have to come close to or break the record. Even the 100 splits in a 1500 or 800 are faster than the top speed in a 100 or especially a 200 breaststroke, and the IMs include the slower breaststroke and backstroke legs. So that is why I think Ryan Lochte and Rebecca Soni were able to get close to WRs at the Pan-Pacs, and that's why the freestyles are still off. The 50 freestyles, more than a second off (which is a long, long way in a 50) were particularly indicative as support for my theory, I think.

Here's a bit about drag reduction in water:

Imaginative solutions by marine organisms for drag reduction (by Frank E. Fish; no kidding)