The Australian Swimming Championships and Commonwealth Games Selection Trials, which start today at Sydney Olympic Park, will see our top talent laid bare … almost literally.

The controversial polyurethane fast-suits that saw an avalanche of world records fall over the past couple of years have been banned by FINA, international swimming’s governing body. The new regulations require men to wear suits that go no lower than the knee and no higher than the waist, and women to wear suits between the knee and the shoulder, rather than the full-length varieties that have been all the rage in recent years.

The rule change is designed to reverse the slippery slope of performance-enhancing swimsuit “aids” and return swimming to an era when world records were broken only rarely.

In terms of results, however, the rule change does not so much level the playing field (all elite swimmers were wearing the fast-suits anyway) as change the playing field. It is not a simple case of whoever was winning with a fast-suit will win without.

The fast-suits change a swimmers’ feel for the water and body position. Requiring all swimmers to ditch the fast-suits will alter each swimmer’s stroke efficiency to differing degrees depending on individual technical idiosyncrasies. Four-time Olympic medallist Daniel Kowalski told Back Page Lead that “swimmers who have had experience racing shaved and tapered in the ‘older’ suits may face less of a psychological hurdle” in taking to the water without a fast-suit.

His reasoning is sound. In any sport, experience plays a huge role in pre-race confidence. A tinge of uncertainty, however small, could well mean the difference between gold and silver. We need only remember the fingernail touch separating Eamonn Sullivan and Alain Bernard in the 100m freestyle at the Beijing Olympics to know how close swimming races can be. When races come down to hundredths of a second, winning becomes about knowing you can win, not merely hoping you can win. The victors this week will be those swimmers with complete confidence in their ability to race suit-less.

There are other permutations to take into account. The suits offer less support for the swimmers’ core muscles. These core muscles not only hold the swimmer in the correct streamlined body position, but also provide the engine room to which all other muscle groups activate. Some elite athletes — including some top swimmers — have surprising poor core strength. This is more likely to be the case for newer athletes who had not entered the elite scene in the pre fast-suit era.

To prepare for this rule change, the AIS swim squad has been working hard outside of the pool with specialised Pilates sessions to strengthen their deep abdominal and back muscles. Particular emphasis has also been placed on the swimmers’ “skin-folds” — the measure of how much body fat the swimmer is carrying. Unlike the fast-suits, which could squeeze in excess fat, traditional suits offer no such service. Tony Abbott may attest to this. Any extra kilo creates additional drag on the swimmer, adding to the resistance each stroke and lowering the end speed. Geoff Huegill will be fortunate his weight loss journey has come along in leaps and bounds.

All of this, of course, is a swimming PR dream. Lean, mean six-pack swimming machines. All flaunting their dripping bodies in front of the camera. Maybe FINA really just wanted to follow the Beach Volleyball example where skin sells?

*Back Page Lead launched last week at backpagelead.com.au and will occasionally provide sports opinion and commentary to Crikey. Kim Crow is an AIS rower and captain of the Australian women’s rowing team.