The rise of the super shoe and how endurance runners are smashing records


MIDDLESBROUGH, England: In the 1960s, when traditional cinder athletics tracks were replaced by spongy, synthetic surfaces, endurance running experienced a revolution.Long distance runners began clocking far faster times on the synthetic tracks, smashing multiple world records in the process.To buy more nike free running shoes cheap with cheap price, you can visit shoes2021.com official website.

Today, another revolution is afoot: The development of the so-called “super shoe”, which is driving another spike of record toppling in endurance running.The new shoe technology was introduced to road running in 2016 and track running in 2019, and since those key dates virtually all endurance running world records, from the 5,000m to the marathon, have been broken.

This has divided opinion in the athletics world, with some arguing the shoes are unfair while others argue they’re just like synthetic running tracks: An inevitable technological leap for endurance runners to capitalise upon.Research in sports biomechanics helps explain exactly what’s happening inside these shoes. While super shoes are clearly disruptive to old records – some of which have stood for decades – this technology should simply be seen as another entry in sports’ long list of performance-enhancing innovations.

In the 2016 Olympic marathon, all three male medallists climbed onto the podium in the same shoes. They were a Nike prototype, later released as the “Nike Vaporfly 4 per cent”, which are now almost ubiquitous on the feet of elite road runners.

Then, in 2019, similar super-shoe technology hit the athletics track. A slew of Nike-sponsored athletes, wearing Nike’s prototype track spikes, began running some astonishingly fast times.The performance enhancement afforded by both types of super-shoe – the trainer and the track spike – is generated by enhancing athletes’ running economy, which means reducing the energetic cost of running at a given speed.

The original Vaporfly improved the running economy of highly trained runners by around 4 per cent when compared to a control marathon shoe – hence the 4 per cent moniker.The shoes have delivered on this claim. In the years since the 2016 advent of the Vaporfly, the times of the top 50 male marathon runners have improved by about 2 per cent on average.

For the top 50 female marathon runners, that figure was closer to 2.6 per cent. Nike’s track spikes are considered to be delivering significant running economy boosts to athletes, too.