People think there's something weird about these Team USA uniforms

Over the weekend, Team USA's speed skaters hit the ice - but meanwhile Twitter was going through a bit of a meltdown.

When not marvelling at the athletes' skating skills, you might have caught yourself doing a double take at their uniforms.

The design, created by Under Armour, includes a light grey patch on the inner thigh.

Picture: Stacy Revere/Getty Images

Picture: Getty Images / Quinn Rooney / Staff

People had a lot of thoughts on the suit design.

But it turns out the so-called crotch patches do actually serve a purpose.

According to Under Armour, which has worked with the team since 2014, the uniforms underwent "hundreds of hours of wind-tunnel testing", they explained in a statement to InStyle.

The contrasting material in the inner thigh (friction guards) has been commonplace for speed skate skins for decades, to reduce friction. The 2014 UA skin had one panel instead of two, but in testing the new skin, the addition of a second panel reduced friction even more—by 60 percent.

They even explained why the patches couldn't be the same colour as the rest of the uniform.

We tested a multitude of friction guard materials to find the material that reduces friction the most. Altering the color or using a material that comes in a different color would have rendered it considerably less effective.

The athletes love the look of the skins and how they perform and are getting compliments from other countries.

Though this scientific reasoning justifies nothing for some people.

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