Arena Carbon Air2 – Review

For this review I will need to give a bit of a background story and will base a lot of the review on comparisons with other suits. I will also include comparisons with the original Air suit as it is too late to do a separate review on that one and both suits are very similar anyway.

First things first, the Carbon Air² is Arena’s second Air suit. It is composed of 65% polyamide, 34% elastane, and 1% carbon fiber. The Air suits differ from the other carbon suits in that they do not have a carbon cage, instead the carbon is run horizontally around the suit. As a result, this suit has less carbon than the others. While it isn’t the latest of Arena’s racing suits it is still worn by some international swimmers and I consider it to be an elite level suit.

The Air² differs from the Air in that it only has seems in the inseam and up the back of the jammer. The air also has seams on the outside of each leg. While it seems like a small thing it does make a noticeable difference in the flexibility of the suit when putting them on.

Flexibility of course is the main selling point for this suit. To give it justice I have to tell my story with the suit. It started with the Carbon Air. Back in 2020 as I was training for the, cancelled, European Masters I spotted an Air on sale and decided to try it out. For my other carbon suits I always bought size 80, but the advice I was getting online was that I needed to go down at least two sizes. So, I took the plunge and bought a size 70. I got to wear it for one competition which was a week before Ireland locked down due to covid. At the time I was 76-78kg and it was a bit tight getting into it, but I wasn’t worried as I usually dropped down to 73-75kg during my load and taper for big competitions. When covid hit proswimwear had a clearance sale and I grabbed a Carbon Air² for 10 euro less than the Air (only 120 pounds!). Unfortunately, the multiple lock downs in Ireland and then the cancelling of masters swimming in Sweden meant I was limited to gym work. I shot up to 84-86kg and didn’t dare try on the suit again for fear of bursting it. I now do more weights than back in Ireland so am packing more muscle, but have slimmed down to 80-81kg and found I was able to fit into my Air suits again. Now the crazy thing is that it is easier for me to get into a size 70 Carbon Air² than my size 80 Carbon Pro, though the leg openings are smaller on the air to the point of them being very uncomfortable.

So, what is it like to race in it? It is super light, very flexible, and is water repellent. I’ve tried it with all 4 strokes and had no problems with it, in fact it was probably the most comfortable carbon suit I’ve worn for an IM event. While it is not as compressive as the other carbon suits I have, it is better than my mid-level suits. Personally, I prefer the extra support and compression that comes with my Carbon Pro or Flex suits when I swim sprint and mid-distance freestyle and butterfly events, but as I mentioned it was brilliant when I swam a 200m IM and I see it is popular with distance swimmers so I will try it for one of those events in the future.

A big difference between the Air² and my other carbon suits is the translucent nature of the suit. The Air² is pretty much see-through except for the modesty panels which are made up of the same material as the rest of the suit. This is different from the other carbon suits I own which have their own distinct lining. The transparent parts of the suit are pretty cool, however I had to be very careful and needed to “rearrange” myself a few times in the suit to make sure everything stayed covered by the modesty panel.

Overall, I like the look and feel of both the Air and the Air². While I don’t see myself wearing them for my sprint events, I will definitely be wearing them for my IM and distance events in the future.