Breakthrough in athletics: the clue is in the shoe
Something strange has occurred in the world of athletics over the past few months, said Sean Ingle in The Guardian: in spite of a disrupted sporting calendar, records have been tumbling. Long-held records have been broken in the men’s 5,000m and 10,000m, and the women’s 5,000m. In a halfmarathon in Valencia in December, no fewer than four male runners achieved sub-58-minute times, a milestone never previously broken. And two weeks ago came the “jaw-dropping sight” of Elliot Giles, a hitherto-unheralded 26-year-old British middle-distance runner, running the second-fastest indoor 800m ever, smashing Sebastian Coe’s 39-year-old UK record in the process. When asked to explain such achievements, a “curious omertà” seems to be in operation. Athletes invariably credit their own talent and dedication. They seem to be in collective denial over the real cause of this record-breaking bonanza: a revolution in shoe technology.
“Super-spikes”, as the new shoes are known, first appeared in 2017 with the release of Nike’s Zoom Vaporfly 4%, said Matt Lawton and Rick Broadbent in The Times. That shoe was intended for marathon runners, but the technology has since “moved from road to track”, and is now being copied by other manufacturers besides Nike – turning athletics “from a foot race into an arms race”. The main characteristic of the shoes is their almost comically thick midsole made of “springy foam”, large enough to incorporate carbon plates or rods. More forgiving and springier than older track spikes, shoes thus fitted are said to improve performance by as much as 2% – a massive difference in a sport where hundredths of a second can make all the difference. Although some curbs were put on the shoes last year, World Athletics has mostly opted for a light-touch approach, with Coe himself – the body’s president – declaring himself “pretty calm” about their emergence.
Technological advances don’t always change sport for the worse, said Susan Egelstaff in The Scottish Herald: few would advocate the reintroduction of wooden tennis racquets or scrapping improvements in motor racing safety. What makes track and field a special case, said Sean Ingle, is that the quest for world records is so “deeply embedded” in its soul. If breaking records becomes too easy, a big part of the sport’s identity will be sacrificed – with a consequent loss of magic. To make matters worse, the new shoes aren’t even creating a level playing field, said Ross Tucker on SportsScientists.com. Studies indicate that their impact on performance is uneven, with athletes’ running styles dictating how they respond. All this risks turning athletic greatness into a lottery, which makes the failure of the authorities to fix the problem seem all the more puzzling and reprehensible.