Swimming: Swimwear stripped bare

French swimming federation technical director Claude Fauquet yesterday called for a debate to be opened on the controversial new space-age swimwear which is helping athletes to break world records.

On the day that France's Alain Bernard broke his world record on his way to victory in the 100m freestyle at the European championships, Fauquet admitted that he had his reservations about the full-body costume. Bernard set a world mark of 47.50s to beat the record he set during Friday's semifinal by 0.10s.

On both occasions he was wearing the new swimsuit, as were Australia's Eamon Sullivan, Zimbabwe's Kirsty Coventry and American Natalie Coughlin when they lowered world marks in the past month.