Spike shoes tv#

However, he suggests that “something in the order of 1-1.5%” is a reasonable hypothesis. So we have to stop getting excited about fast times – because everything has changed.”īurns also believes it is too early to say how much the new spikes improve performance – and he cautions that their impact may vary by event, as race speed, athlete mechanics and contact times with the track differ. “But some shoe companies have printed a bunch more money, and we have just had inflation. “In athletics, times and performances are our currency,” he says. The first step, says Geoff Burns, a biomechanics expert and leading voice on shoe technology, is to “forget everything” we know about what constitutes a fast time. So how should we react when the record books are not only being rewritten but torched in the track and field equivalent of Year Zero? But as one prominent voice put it to me: “Without the shoe brands, particularly Nike, global elite athletics is dead in the water. Coe, the World Athletics president, has also played down the shoes’ impact. Giles and Scott are far from alone in not confronting the new reality. “It takes away the credit for your own role and improved performance,” he says. Willis, who works for the high-end running brand Tracksmith, knows why athletes are staying silent.

“And here’s your one opportunity to really preach about it.

“Normally you’re asked by your sponsor to give a sales pitch, and it often seems so fake and contrived,” says Willis. It all amounts to a curious omerta – a case of “don’t mention the spikes” – from Nike and New Balance athletes who have benefited most from the technology.

Spike shoes tv#

When the TV commentator Tim Hutchings suggested the spikes were also a factor, Scott told him to “give some credit where it’s due rather than consistently nag about the shoe technology”. Photograph: NikeĪnother Briton, Marc Scott, attributed beating his 10,000m PB by 46 seconds – which moved him above Dave Bedford and Brendan Foster in the all-time list – to “training hard and smart for years”. The Nike Air Zoom Victory, also known as ‘super spikes’, the use of which has seen world records tumbling on the athletics track in recent months.