Technological advances in elite marathon performance

Abstract

There is scientific and legal controversy about recent technological advances in performance running shoes that reduce the energetic cost of running and may provide a distinct competitive advantage. To better understand the potential performance-enhancing effects of technological advancements in marathon racing shoes, we examined the finishing times and racing shoes of the top 50 male and 50 female runners from the World Marathon Major series in the 2010s - before and after the introduction of new Nike shoe models (4%, NEXT%, Alphafly, and other prototypes; herein referred to as neoteric Nikes). Data for racing shoes were available for 3,886 of the 3,900 performances recorded at the four annual marathons in Boston, London, Chicago, and New York. In full cohort analyses, marathon finishing times were 2.0% or 2.8 min (138.5±8.1 min vs. 141.3±7.4 min, P<0.001) faster for male runners wearing neoteric Nikes compared to other shoes. For females, marathon finishing times were 2.6% or 4.3 min (159.1±10.0 min vs. 163.4±10.7 min, P<0.001) faster for runners wearing neoteric Nikes. In a subset of within-runner changes in marathon performances (males, n = 138; females, n = 101), marathon finishing times improved by 0.8% or 1.2 min for males wearing neoteric Nikes relative to the most recent marathon in which other shoes were worn, and this performance-enhancing effect was greater among females who demonstrated 1.6% or 3.7 min improvement (P=0.002). Our results demonstrate that marathon performances are substantially when world-class athletes, and particularly females, wear marathon racing shoes with technological advancements.

Metabolic cost of level, uphill, and downhill running in highly cushioned shoes with carbon-fiber plates

“…The actual time savings for 50 elite male marathoners using various versions of the Vaporfly shoes for a variety of Marathon Major courses ranging from the very flat Chicago course to the much hillier and net downhill Boston course was 2.0%. 3 …”

“…Since the introduction of the Nike Vaporfly 4% (VF4) shoes in 2017, elite marathon races have been dominated by athletes using these shoes and similar models. 1 , 2 , 3 Today, almost all running brands have their own marathon racing shoes that, like the Vaporfly, combine a resilient foam with a stiff curved plate. The 4% in the Vaporfly name originates from laboratory measurements showing that the shoes reduce the metabolic energy consumption during running by an average of ∼4% as compared to conventional road-racing shoes.…”

Longitudinal bending stiffness does not affect running economy in Nike Vaporfly Shoes

“… 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 The Nike Vaporfly 4% (VF) shoe utilizes both these technologies to give athletes on average up to 4% savings in running economy compared to popular high-end marathon racing shoes, 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 which translates to improved running performance. 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 While scientists and bloggers debate whether the foam, 8 , 16 geometry, 2 or curved carbon-fiber plate 1 , 17 contributes more to these “super shoes”, the exact mechanisms resulting in 4% metabolic savings are not yet understood.…”

A Narrative Analysis of the Progression in the Top 100 Marathon, Half-Marathon, and 10-km Road Race Times from 2001 to 2019

“…Hoogkamer et al (10) demonstrated that these shoes improve running economy by ~4% in the laboratory, theoretically translating to a 2%–3% improvement in marathon performance time (11). Indeed, Senefeld et al (12) found that finishing times of women and men runners in Nike shoes with a carbon-fiber plate were 2.6% and 2.0% faster, respectively, than times of runners not utilizing shoes with a carbon-fiber plate. Since the release of the original Vaporfly, Nike released newer generations of similar shoes (e.g., Nike Vaporfly NEXT%; https://www.nike.com/running/vaporfly), with reportedly even greater running economy benefit introduced by 2019 (13), perhaps driving further time improvements.…”