Best triathlon suits 2023 race-ready tri suits for your swim, bike and run reviewed and rated

A triathlon suit is an an absolute necessity for anyone taking part in the race. After all, it's the only garment that's with you across the swim, bike and run—so it's crucial to find one that meets your needs.

Just like the best skinsuits for road cycling, tri-suits has aerodynamics at its core. The primary difference between a triathlon suit and a skinsuit is the pad—running in a full fat chamois is a recipe for chafing. But finding the balance between comfort and aerodynamics is a challenge. 

In this guide, we've tested sleeved suits because they're measurably faster and more aerodynamic for our arms in time trial position. Triathletes aren’t constricted by the UCI rulebook either—meaning many of outlawed features make an appearance on these suits.

With that in mind, this list could be of interest to any CTT (a British time trial racing organisation) event riders too - if you’re willing to make a compromise on the pad it’s possible one of these suits will be faster than what you can find elsewhere, though many brands make a cycling specific version of these suits. 

The Quick List

Best triathlon suits: our picks

Best overall

Endura’s famous collaboration with D2Z resulted in the Encapsulator TT suit that was so fast the UCI changed their rules because of it. 

But the QDC D2Z S/S Tri Suit II with SST could be the more impressive piece of kit, especially considering the additional demands that are placed on a tri suit. First, comfort is more important (running chafing is worse than any bicycle chafing - sorry cyclists) plus making a suit that’s aero but can be run in is also hard—you can’t run fast folded over. 

This suit was incredible resulting in only a small amount of chafing during a rainy half ironman. When you order an Endura QDC D2Z S/S Tri Suit II with SST it comes in a beautiful zip box, has a nice little laundry bag with it and comes with a book which explains the design process. 

We washed this suit inside the laundry bag three times. Similar to the Castelli suit, the bag is there in order to protect the air-tripping chevrons on the sleeve, 

Best lightweight suit

The Castelli is definitely designed for athletes at the pointy end, with the air-tripping arm sleeves and aggressive fit...

We tested a medium and it was a pretty snug fit on our tester. It was more aero but less comfortable for running and featured medium sized pockets in the rear and air—tripping (UCI illegal—not that it matters for triathlon) rubber features on the arms.
However, the chamois was relatively generous for such an aggressive suit and, as the fit was so exact, stayed in place during all rides. 

If you’re racing a long course triathlon this is a good option. The suit survived a couple of washes quite well. We'd recommend wearing this suit unzipped for cycling then zipped up for the swim. That’s not uncommon for sleeved suits but if you’re not comfortable doing that then it’s not the suit for you. 

Best value

This suit is exactly what you’d expect from dhb—comfy, fits true to size and isn’t too expensive. It doesn’t come with a huge number of aerodynamic features but is less than half the price of a number of the options compiled in this list. In testing, we found that it’s comfy under a wetsuit zipped up and unzipped, and didn't chafe on a long run. 

It comes with comfort features including leg and arm grippers, as well as a neat little strip of material which guards the zip from chafing. This suit has a more flexible size profile too—fitting a wider range of medium-ish size body shapes than some of the others. 

There’s a slight lack of ventilation in the suit which can cause a little bit of overheating, but this lack of slightly less stretchy mesh is what makes the suit comfortable. If you’re racing in Britain, lack of ventilation isn’t a problem too often, anyway.

Ultimately, this is a good, all round suit, perfect for your first few long course triathlons.

Most comfortable

The Zoot Waikoloa is definitely an eye-catcher and was interesting to test...

The pad was comfortable on the turbo for two hours. The suit lacked the aero credentials of some of the others, with no texturing on the arms, but was by far and away the most comfortable on the list. Its fit was true to size and is the perfect iron-distance suit. 

With a slightly heavier duty feel and thicker pad, we were expecting some chafing or discomfort while running but the suit felt great. Overheating was also a concern but the entire suit is made of a mesh-like material which dissipates heat remarkably well with only a little bit of airflow necessary. Swimming both zipped up, unzipped and pulled down to the waist under the wetsuit were all ok. 

If you’re prioritising comfort, the Zoot suit is the best of the bunch (by some considerable margin).

Best for cooler weather

Roka came into triathlon declaring their intention to build the fastest triathlon wetsuit—and they achieved that by simply putting one on Lucy Charles-Barclay. This is a brand, like Huub, with great pedigree in the sport which gave us high expectations for the tri-suit.

That said, we found the shoulders restrictive and the zip uncomfortable in the water. The pad was good plus the suit has some aerodynamic texturing on the arms but it feels heavy. The chamois was ok on the turbo but the suit was very hot. A race kit you'll have to unzip for the swim that might be more suited for colder races.

Out of the box, it feels high quality and the material is nice in the hand. You can’t feel the seams when the suit is on and, despite some heat related issues, there’s no chafing at all while running. This is a good halfway option between comfort and performance, unless you’re racing in southern Europe a lot in summer - where you’ll want to opt for something lighter.  This suit was used for Ironman 70.3 Swansea, while the suit was comfortable and aero we did lose our gels on the bike!

Best for larger builds

In full honesty, we were most excited to test this suit.

This suit was the one I was most excited to test as I wore the old Huub Aneomi suit to race in all of this season, which I loved. The suit from the British manufacturer was probably the biggest let down on the list. It felt heavy in the hand and I found that overheating was an issue. 

It was restrictive to swim in when pulled up, which was a surprise given the quality of wetsuit and swimskins that Huub have produced over the years. The pad was comfortable on the turbo and it survived a couple of washes unscathed and was a solid suit but I expected more based on how much I liked the old one. 

One word of warning for the HUUB is around the suit’s fit. In testing, we found the legs were a little baggy for the medium size. We'd suggest going a size down or even trying one on in store before your purchase.

How to choose a triathlon suit

How we test

Each of these suits were worn for at least either one triathlon or long 'brick' session (this is a bike to run session for those uninitiated to the jargon), as well as being used for regular training. The suits were judged on their fit, chamois comfort and heat dissipation abilities. We also kept an eye out for any early signs of wear from usage and the (many) wash cycles.