Karen Pickering & I decided to test just how fast the new crop of controversial swimsuits really are - Karen's wearing the full neoprene suit Jo Jackson wore when she won her silver medal in the 400m freestyle, and I'm wearing a 50% neoprene/50% textile suit from last year. See how we got on, and our verdict on how they enhanced our times...
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Rome, Italy
I love my job in the mixed zone at major meets. My home for 16 sessions of swimming here in Rome is a 70cm by 90cm box with a 1.2m wall separating myself from the athletes.
It's not the most luxurious place to be housed with 200 other reporters all vying for a piece of the victorious athletes in the 35 degree heat, but I do get the honour of speaking to the world's best swimmers immediately after their performances.
Of course it's the Brits I look forward to speaking to most. I can empathise with the emotional highs and lows and pressures that come with donning the national tracksuit.
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Join me behind the scenes at an evening session at the World Swimming Championships in Rome. Ever wondered where Jo Jackson keeps her medal? Good, we're inside the media enclosure, the first stop for the swimmers after they exit they pool, to find out.
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Rome, Italy
The sweet, sweet sound of the British national anthem rang around the Foro Italico as the sun began to set last night.
Seeing Gemma Spofforth standing on top of the podium with the weighty gold medal (it's the size of a side plate!) around her neck led to goose bumps and shivers down the spine.
The girl never stops smiling, but her broad grin grew by a few extra centimetres as the Union Jack made its way up the flag pole.
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Piazza de Colosseo, Rome
Two hours in the water is hard core - I've heard people call it swamp-swimming! I took a trip down to the famous Colosseum to chat to Keri Anne-Payne about her victory in the 10k open water - where two Roman centurions took a shine to more than her gold medal...
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Rome, Italy
There's a substantial sweepstake among the world's media here at the 13th World Swimming Championships on what the final world-record tally will be.
My guess at the beginning of the week was an optimistic 25. But in the first two days alone, there have been 10.
Looking back I should have added another dozen to in order to give myself any chance of bringing home the bacon!
There has been much said about the legitimacy of these World Championships with 'Suitgate' dominating the headlines. My perspective on the issue is simple.
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I used to love watching Seb Coe and Steve Ovett in the Olympic Games. No matter who you supported, their battles captured the imagination of the whole nation and inspired middle-distance athletes all over the world.
After watching our girls win two of the medals in the 400m freestyle final on Sunday night at the Foro Italico, I believe we are witnessing the emergence of a dominant aquatic duo, the like of which British swimming has never seen before.
I watched with pride and confidence last night as Rebecca Adlington produced a gutsy swim from the dreaded lane eight, a position she found herself in due to an under-par performance in the morning heats.
She showed the grit and determination which won her two golds in Beijing last year. Her time of 400.79 was nearly three seconds quicker than at the Olympics, and although frighteningly fast was only good enough for bronze.
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Rome, Italy
If you thought it was five star-luxury for the best swimmers in the world, think again - come with me behind-the-scenes at the Foro Italico to see what the competitors face before a race...
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Foro Italico, Italy
My girlfriend often gets upset at how hairy my chest is these days.
She finds it hilarious that I have a 'bow tie', which is apparently chest hair that encroaches onto the neck and resembles something only worn once every blue moon. I've tried not to let on, but in 'Teen Wolf' fashion there is hair on the inside of my forearms, too.
It's amazing how much you have to sacrifice for a national swimming team and that's what a decade of shaving down does for you.
Before Nasa scientists got involved in developing swimsuits, international swimmers used to shave their bodies in order to cut down drag.
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I'm Steve Parry. I won an Olympic bronze medal in Athens and I'll be aiming to give you an insight into the world of swimming as well as all the other Olympic sports.
~RS~q~RS~~RS~z~RS~07~RS~)