New swimming pool tech could give Olympians the golden edge

Performance sportswear firm HUUB has brought a world-leading piece of technology to Derby to help give swimmers and triathletes a crucial edge as they prepare for the Los Angeles Olympic Games in 2028.

The firm has installed its Measurement of Active Drag (MAD) system at Moorways Sports Village, in Moor Lane, as part of its work to develop the fastest wetsuits and swimwear on the market.

The system is designed to calculate exactly how much resistance – or drag – a swimmer produces in the water, giving coaches and athletes the data they need to shave vital fractions of a second off race times.

It uses a series of 17 pads which are mounted in a row on a 25 metre-long metal frame which is then lowered into the swimming pool.

The swimmer then pulls themself along by gripping onto the pads, with the machine measuring the resistance by comparing the force they apply as they pass over the pads with their speed through the water.

The data will enable HUUB’s wetsuit designers to better understand how their efforts to streamline the suits are performing, allowing them to make further tweaks in order to increase the swimmer’s speed.

The system was developed in the Netherlands by Professor Huub Touissant, who inspired HUUB founder Dean Jackson MBE to set up his company by harnessing Professor’s Touissant expertise in biomechanics in order to design wetsuits that enhance a swimmer’s performance.

It was previously housed at the BEST Centre, an elite swimming training hub in Mallorca.

Dean says he is realising a dream by bringing it to the UK, working in partnership with Everyone Active, which operates Moorways in partnership with Derby City Council.

He said: “This is the most advanced piece of equipment in the world – it’s the Holy Grail.

“The only way to typically measure the effectiveness of a wetsuit is in a flume but there are so many variables that can change the result massively.

“Rather than relying on anecdotal evidence of a swimmer going ‘oh, it felt five per cent faster’, this is true science and can get us down to one per cent accuracy in terms of the effectiveness of the swimsuit.

“We’re working on some new technologies, some new performance fabrics that we feel very sure will be used by athletes in Los Angeles.

“So, we’re working with Moorways on some ideas and concepts in order to get some results, and then it might be back to the drawing board or just taking those products and refining them.”

Derby-born professional triathlete Tom Bishop, who represented England at the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games, and his partner Sian Rainsley, who is a 2021 European Triathlon Championships bronze medallist, have taken part in HUUB’s testing at Moorways.

HUUB, which will also be working with the University of Derby, spent three days testing the system to ensure it works after transportation and now will carry out a series of five-hour sessions to measure different suits alongside some new prototypes.

The £300,000 MAD system was match-funded by a grant from Innovate UK and Dean said he was incredibly proud to finally see it being installed at Moorways.

He added: “The grant from Innovate helped us bring the MAD system to life but before we finished it, the council announced the old Moorways pool was being knocked down, so we took it out to the BEST Centre.

“We could put the technology anywhere, but I’m incredibly proud of Derby as a city of innovation and makers, so it’s a dream to get it back to the city.

“We’re grateful for the support we’ve had from Everyone Active for this. I can’t believe that we have actually held our first test at Moorways in a bright, shiny new pool – it’s exciting.”