A new swimsuit has made its debut at the Olympic Games in Athens after four years of research and development which began with the study of shark skin at London’s Natural History Museum (NHM).

The new swimsuit, called Fastskin FSII and developed by Speedo, mimics the skin of sharks and increases a swimmer’s speed by reducing passive drag through the water by up to 4 per cent more than the next best swimsuit.

The NHM’s fish curator, Ollie Crimmen, led the initial research into the texture of shark skin and the creature’s movement through water.

Tiny ‘teeth’ cover the surface of a shark’s skin and it was discovered that the flow of water across a shark’s body varied according to shape and positioning of these teeth.

Speedo took Crimmen’s findings and created a full bodyskin for athletes, complete with different fabrics for different parts of the body and, for the first time, both male- and female-specific swimsuits and stroke-specific costumes. Details: www.nhm.ac.uk