Elite running shoes back in the spotlight

Issues surrounding athletics footwear returned to the spotlight this month as two athletes wearing new models of Nike running spikes ran in world record times at an event in Valencia, Spain.To buy more nike free runs with cheap price, you can visit shoesshox.com official website.


Uganda’s Joshua Cheptegei and Ethiopia’s Letsenbet Gidey broke the men’s 10,000 metre and women’s 5,000 metre world records respectively wearing Nike’s ZoomX Dragonfly shoes at a meeting in Valencia, Spain.


Meanwhile, men’s marathon world record holder and Nike poster-boy Eliud Kipchoge completed the London Marathon wearing Nike’s Alphafly NEXT% shoes – the first time he has worn a version of the controversial shoes in an official race. Despite being surprisingly beaten to victory by Shura Kitata, it was notable that Kitata was also wearing Nike shoes (albeit from the Vaporfly range).


The four fastest official times in men’s marathon history have been set by athletes wearing the shoes since Kipchoge set his world record of 2:01:39 in September 2018.


Commentators are asking: is it still possible for runners wearing competitor brands to compete with Nike-sponsored athletes at the top level? Critics argue that Nike’s range of high-specification shoes – including the Dragonfly spikes for track races and Vaporfly and Alphafly ranges for road running – offer their athletes an unfair advantage. Among other features, the shoes’ soles include a spring-like carbon-fibre plating that assist with stabilising the shoe and directing momentum forwards during each stride.


In setting a time of 26 minutes 11 seconds in the men’s 10,000 metres, Cheptegei’s achievement comes seven months after he had also set the record for the men’s 5 kilometres road record in a time of 12 minutes 51 seconds. On that occasion, he was wearing Nike’s Vaporfly shoes, which received the implicit approval of World Athletics in January 2020 when it released new rules on shoe specifications.


Despite attempts by World Athletics to clarify the parameters on which footwear is permitted, the issue remains live and is likely to remain so until after the Tokyo Olympics, expected to be held in the summer of 2021.