Research in sports biomechanics helps explain exactly whats happening inside these shoes.
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In the2016 Olympic marathon, all three male medalists climbed onto the podium in the same shoes.
Then, in 2019, similar super-shoe technology hit the athletics track.
In practice, this equates to a rough improvement in running performance of between 2% and 3%.
The new super shoes are a dramatic improvement on all previous running trainers.
o understand Nike’s new super shoe, it helps to look within its sole.
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The shoes have delivered on this claim.
For the top 50 female marathon runners, that figure was closer to 2.6%.
Nikes track spikes are considered to be delivering significant running economy boosts to athletes, too.
Fancy footwork
Several footwear features are behind this performance boost.
These plates arent actually anew conceptbut their specific scoop shape is being credited for the latest performance enhancement.
To understand Nikes new super shoe, it helps to look within its sole.
PEBA foam is also lighter: the Vaporfly weighs around 50g less than previous competitors.
The above features have likely formed the basis for Nikes new track spikes, too.
In the video below,Eliud Kipchoge broke the two-hour marathon threshold in 2019 wearing Nikes super-shoes.
Similarly, advanced footwear is certainly helping track athletes run faster.
Many have called for further restrictions.
There are parallels to other sports.
The full-body swimsuit was quickly banned, thoughthe technology lives onin a reduced form in todays swimsuits.
The super-shoe arms race will inevitably spread to sprint distances in thenear future.
New technology will usher in a new cohort of world record holders.
During this process of leaderboard recalibration, greater emphasis should be placed on results as opposed to times.
