In the race for sportswear technology, an advanced shoe shape recently broke the rules of racing, giving short and long-distance runners a major advantage.
New research shows that so-called "superspikes" on the soles can increase running speed over medium distances by as much as 3.1%, Science alert reported.
The international team of scientists behind the study wanted to take a closer look at the impact of these superspikes - technically known as advanced footwear technology (ATO) - as their use at the elite level became commonplace.
As world records continue to fall, this begs an interesting question: are people getting faster, training harder, or using better gear (like super spikes) to keep improving?
"Superspikes have a thicker but lighter, more elastic and more responsive midsole, often combined with a stiff carbon fiber plate built into the midsole," says UM biomechanical engineer Montgomery Bertschi.
While sprints and long-distance races have characteristics that make factors such as energy efficiency and speed easy to test in the lab and in the field, middle-distance feats involve additional complications. This means that to date, it is difficult to know whether anecdotes about the superiority of superspikes are giving rise to all methods of running.
To circumvent these obstacles, superspikes were compared to standard track running spikes in four separate experiments, each with 12 different participants, and all over distances of 200 meters with recovery periods in between.
Participants were asked to stick to their "race pace" when running 800 or 1500 meters. The idea was to equalize the effort athletes put in to isolate the effects of the shoes.
The data showed a few interesting points: Superspikes showed an average increase in performance of about 2%, although this varied by runner and shoe brand. Increases in running speed ranged from 1.8 to 3.1%, with athletes reducing their race time by up to 5 seconds over 1500 meters.
Moreover, the increase appears to be due to longer stride length rather than more steps. This is an important point in appreciating the difference that shoes can make and in the best possible preparation for athletic events such as the Olympics.
"Historically, we can expect to see differences of less than 0.5% in race times that determine who wins gold, gets silver or doesn't make the podium," says sports biomechanist Ethan Wilkie of University of New Brunswick in Canada.
"Our results of 2% highlight that some of this may be due to the fact that some people have slightly better shoes than others."
Other studies of UTOs show that they are more beneficial for women than for men and are more important over longer distances. Numerous studies have consistently shown that superspike technology is only part of the story - speed, size and choice of running shoe also play a role.
A further 32 world records have been broken during the 2024 Paris Olympics, and with competition fiercer than ever, athletes will continue to look for every advantage they can get to improve their performance.
"Part of this is because the shoes are getting better and better, and we have evidence for that," says University of Massachusetts kinesiologist Wutter Hoogkammer. | BGNES
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