These would be banned under the new rulesĪt the elite end of things, the five fastest marathon times of all time, a new women's world record and Kipchoge's astonishing sub-two hour stunt in Vienna, have all been achieved in the past 17 months. Kipchoge's shoes for his sub two-hour run in Vienna were prototypes which speculation has suggested included as many as three carbon plates and cushioning airbags. Nike claim Vaporflys improve running efficiency by 4%.Ī New York Times study of data from more than a million races external-link suggested even Nike's own hype might be an under-estimate. On the road, the evidence for Nike's pioneering shoes has been compelling. If they are in the shops by then, they can be on track in time for the Olympics. Great Britain's Laura Muir broke the British indoor mile record last February in prototype Vaporfly spikesīut, with a generous 30mm sole-depth limit brought in for spikes, that is the only barrier to be cleared before track-specific Vaporfly shoes are legal for Tokyo 2020.Ī deadline of 30 April has been set by World Athletics. World Athletics ruled on Friday that Vaporfly technology was generally legal, but specified that elite athletes' shoes must be available for purchase by the general public.Ī version of Eliud Kipchoge's marathon footwear is on sale in your local flagship store. Nine days later, across the Atlantic in Birmingham, Laura Muir broke the British indoor mile record in a pair of prototype shoes designed along similar lines.Įight months on, Sifan Hassan, another Nike athlete, completed a world 1500m-5,000m double in similarly stacked and specially supplied footwear. One Thursday last February, a group of Nike shoes designers filed those designs at the US Patent Office, aiming to bring their ground-breaking Vaporfly technology to athletics' most high-profile events. Or US Patent Application number 16/270,279? external-link
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