Supershoes Can Give Athletes a Leg Up in the Olympics

The 2024 Paris Olympics delivered just two world records in track events, whilst eight Olympic records were also recorded. The fact that more records were not set may have been down to the hot Parisian summer — temperatures were reportedly 3 to 4°C (approximately 5°F) higher than when the Olympics last convened in Paris in 1900 — along with several instances of rain rather than the abilities of the athletes compared with previous events.

What’s not in dispute, however, is the progress of technology in sports shoes that is propelling athletes to new heights — and speed — in track and field competitions as well as other Olympic sports such as basketball. US athlete Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, for example, set a new world record in Paris for the women's 400-meter hurdles at 50.37 seconds, presumably shod in FuelCell SuperComp MDX v3 spike shoes from her sponsor New Balance.

The New Balance shoe employs polyether block amide (PEBA) foam from Arkema in the midsole that is not only lighter than the ethylene-vinyl acetate (EVA) or thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) used more commonly in sports shoes, but also returns significantly more energy through its higher springiness. The lightweight, energy-returning foam is combined with a carbon-fiber composite plate for stiffness and stability.

At the extreme end of the distance scale, the Netherlands’ Sifan Hassan set a women’s Olympic record on a challenging, undulating marathon course of 2:22:55 wearing Nike’s new Alphafly 3. Weighing in at less than half a pound per shoe, the Alphafly 3 also employs lightweight PEBA foam, branded as ZoomX foam by Nike, in a 40-mm-thick sole — the maximum allowed by World Athletics regulations — plus a carbon-fiber-composite plate.

During development, the tech-heavy Alphafly 3 supershoe helped the late Nike athlete Kelvin Kiptum claim a new marathon world record with a time of 2:00:35. Kiptum was tragically killed in a road accident in his native Kenya in February 2024. Image courtesy of Nike.

Technology doping?

Besides limitations on sole thickness, World Athletics moved quickly to restrict the design of the carbon-fiber plate incorporated into supershoes prior to the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 to combat what it saw as unfair advantages gained by wearing ultra-light, high-spring footwear capable of providing up to 85% energy return and potentially upwards of 4% greater running efficiency versus conventional shoes. The exact text read: “The shoe must not contain more than one rigid embedded plate or blade (of any material) that runs either the full length or only part of the length of the shoe. The plate may be in more than one part, but those parts must be located sequentially in one plane (not stacked or in parallel) and must not overlap.”

High-price performance boost

Regulations also stipulate that any shoe must have been available for purchase by any athlete on the open retail market (online or in store) for a period of four months before it can be used in competition. Budding Olympians might also want to secure a sponsor swiftly given the price, and durability, of the highest end sports shoes. The Adizero Adios Pro Evo 1, to quote one top-of-the-range sports shoe, retails for $500. It's 40% lighter than any race shoe Adidas has created, weighing in at just 4.87 ounces. Despite its expensive price, the made-for-road-racing-only shoe is optimized for a single marathon, although Adidas did note that, depending on the athlete, the shoes could retain their high performance for longer.