Will a shoe actually make you run faster, or is it hype? The latest craze of “illegal” running shoes has outraged the fringes of distance running, assailing the very foundations of equity. They’re not convenience, these gargantuan-soled shoes – they’re changing the biomechanics of running. As Adidas’ global VP of running product, Patrick Nava, so aptly expressed, “The more foam you have under your foot, the more comfortable it is, and the longer, usually, you can run.”
They are irresistible. Consider the Adidas Adizero Prime X2 Strung shoe, for example. Even “not allowed in elite races,” they’re gone in a jiffy for $300 per pair. Adidas even markets a new shoe later this summer with a sole that is 10 millimeters thicker than the law requires. RunRepeat website owner Jens Jakob Andersen observes that of the top 100 newest-tested shoes on the site, 18 had more than 40 millimeters. Numbers don’t tell it all: it is about pushing the boundaries of running performance. Controversy is Adidas’s not alone.
Ethiopian runner Derara Hurisa was disqualified from competition at Vienna Marathon, now dubiously “Schuh-Gate,” after finishing first in a shoe with a 50-millimeter stack height. The Vienna City Marathon is a World Athletics “Label Road Race,” so it’s advertised to very high standards. Siding the winner on a technicality wasn’t the type of publicity event organizers had been seeking.
The scandal tarnishes best athletes. Ultramarathon runner Rajpaul Pannu was disqualified from the USA Track and Field 100-mile road championships for wearing shoes with a stack height greater than authorized under regulation. Hoka-sponsored Pannu raced on competition day in the Hoka Skyward X unaware that they were “illegal.” The Pannu situation educates manufacturers’ and authorities’ roles to police for rule adherence.
Profit to manufacturers to produce such super shoes is apparent. They are among the most costly in the market available and are propelling runs shoe sales. With Circana, units sold declined by 2% over the last two years, but value of sales grew by 14%. Take Puma’s RB Nitro Elite, for instance, which in hours terms was sold out even at 58-millimeter stack height. The shoe was presented as a “concept car,” one that ignores what is possible with footwear.
Adidas will not apologize for what it has done, on its part. The Prime X was “consciously created outside of the World Athletics guidelines,” “when you throw the rule book away.” The step is more an action towards selling shoes and an action towards telling a memorable story that ignites the imagination of runners everywhere.
The payout is high. On the InsideHook lexicon, runners themselves are overshadowed by running shoes. The tales of those shoes are where the excitement in the sport is found, but passion for equipment on which the sport is contingent, not the solo skill it possesses.
As the furor rises, the question is: Are they cheating, or merely evening the odds for the wealthy who can afford them? The answer could be in the future of race restricts and the era of new sports technology. Ahead, when players and professionals look down the road, it is certain that the place of “illegal” running shoes in the sport is far from finished.
