Last summer, Nike launched a new, allegedly revolutionary, running shoe: the Nike Zoom Vaporfly 4%. In doing so, the company gave the promise that the ingenious design would allow runners to run as much as 4% faster than their competitors. US newspaper The New York Times examined this statement in detail and comes to the following conclusion: the shoes really are faster. However, it again raises the question here and there whether these and other technological developments make the sport fairer and more fun.
The New York Times did extensive research on Nike's 'super-fast' shoe. The newspaper examined some 500,000 results from full and half marathons since 2014. Using public race records and shoe data from Strava, a fitness app widely used by runners, the Times concluded that runners wearing Vaporflys ran 3 to 4 per cent faster than similar runners (runners who normally achieve roughly the same results) with other shoes. Moreover, they were over 1 per cent faster than runners wearing the second fastest running shoe on the market.
Special midsole
The Vaporflys, which sell for around $250, have, unlike most running shoes, a plate of carbon fibre in the midsole. This stores energy and releases it with each step. It acts as a catapult, so to speak, to push runners forward. Compared to normal training shoes, the Vaporflys do seem to wear off faster: some users claimed that the shoes lost their effectiveness after about 150 kilometres.
In the article about the research on the shoe, The New York Times also touches on another issue that has been debated for some time: when do technological advances create unfair competition within the sport? In golf, certain balls that fly right were previously banned, the US NFL banned the use of a sticky substance that allowed basketball players to catch the ball better, and in swimming, high-tech suits were banned that were said to provide better buoyancy and speed. The swimming costumes were believed to make you swim about 2% faster, somewhat similar to the advantage the Nike Vaporflys offer over the subsequent best-performing shoe.
There seem to be no clear rules internationally when it comes to running shoes. The International Association of Athletics Federations only states the following: "shoes must not be made in such a way as to give athletes an unfair advantage over competitors. It is not specified what kind of advantages are involved.
Data
Incidentally, it is not only developments in product development that make athletes perform better. Digital technological developments are also helping sport move forward. For instance, more and more athletes are using electronic aids in their activities. Research showed that over a third of Dutch athletes use an app, activity trackers or smartwatch to capture data about their effort. Technology analyst Juniper expects the consumer market of sports technology applications to be worth over USD 53 billion by 2019.
On a professional level, Formula 1 currently seems to be the sport in which the most data is captured. For instance, we read that per race car sensors record more than 500 essential and over 13,000 additional parameters at each Grand Prix. "Combined, the 24 race cars thus generate a total of 40 gigabytes of data per race, which are fed back to the teams in real time via an ingenious system," Numrush reports.
However, there are already sensors and AI applications that can predict a concussion or injury. Several sports clubs, including Ajax and PSV, are experimenting with virtual reality. Through virtual reality, coaches can, for example, simulate game situations to see where things go wrong. Four cameras also record every movement on the pitch during matches.
Source: The New York Times/Numrush/SAP
Photo: Nike
