Young Science Writer of the Year: How 'super shoes' transformed running

Key Highlights

• It has caused notable perspective shift on what it means to be an athlete. The top 10 fastest marathons by men and women were all run within the last seven years (with the exception of Paula Radcliffe in 2003).
• Could part of the reason be shoes?
• Shoes so advanced they have been nicknamed "super shoes". AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementTesting - in the lab and on the world stage - has provided evidence of the enhancements of an athlete's performance that stretches beyond physiological capabilities. The top 10 fastest marathons were all run within the last seven years - with the exception of Paula Radcliffe in 2003, pictured here [Christopher Lee/]Super shoes consist of four main features: the midsole foam; the curved carbon-fibre plate; the stack height and the breathable upper. These components work in synergy to produce a lightweight, highly cushioned and flexible shoe to maximise the energy returned to the athlete to propel them forward, while minimising the amount of energy exerted by the athlete themselves. They were popularised in 2016, when Nike released the Nike Vaporfly, shoes that were showcased when they were worn by the top three male finishers in the Rio Olympic men's marathon. Nike released the Nike Vaporfly in 2016 [Getty/The Washington Post]Research – partly funded by Nike and published in the journal Sports Medicine - showed that these shoes could reduce the energetic cost of running by 4%, compared with established marathon racing shoes.
• That translates to a desired pace being sustained for longer, eventually resulting in a faster finishing time. AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementThese shoes have also caused controversy, because of the number of records broken by athletes wearing them.
• To combat this, in 2020, World Athletics - the international governing body for the sport - implemented regulations on the features that super shoes could have. Those rules state that the maximum stack height must not exceed 40mm and that the shoes must have no more than one carbon plate. Critics have also raised concerns that today's athletes do not meet the standards of athletes in the past, precisely because technology has provided them with such an advantage. One proposed solution is keeping separate lists for "technology-assisted records".