GO GADGETS: ADAM HARVEYrounds up the latest swimming gadgets
* It’s midsummer: no better time to hit the pool. So what if you can barely swim a lap? You can still make a splash with the swimsuit worn by 94 per cent of gold medal winners at Beijing: the Speedo LZR Racer (€370 www.speedo.co.uk). Built with Nasa’s help, this second-skin suit has a built-in corset to disguise the breakfast roll you ate en route to the pool, and the material is supposed to stop your muscles vibrating as you glide through the pool.
* If you can’t beat ’em, eat ’em, with silicone swim caps from McSport (www.mcsport.ie, €5.50) that’ll have you looking like Jaws, even if you swim more like prey than predator. This Bray, Co Wicklow-based company has dozens of other swim caps, including ones decorated with the Tricolour, and an Aquaglide model (€8.99) with moulded ear pockets to stop your ears from feeling like they’ve been compressed to your head with gaffer tape.
* For potential members of Ireland’s 2024 Olympic squad, Bambino Mio disposable swim nappies (€9.95, www.cleverclogs.ie) are cotton-lined and free of the chemicals that make ordinary disposable nappies fill with water and sink like stones upon contact with water. They’re reusable, Velcro-fastened, and designed to contain liquid rather than absorb it.