If you have to buy the best track shoes for sprinters, you must care about spikes. Spikes used to only serve as a means of traction and protection for a runner’s foot in the past. They were “kind of like functional sandals”. This was because they were designed to be as light as possible and contain almost no foam.
This is due to the weight of earlier varieties of foam. So, there was a 1% loss in energy efficiency for every 100 grams of foam. Then, however, new foam compositions like Nike’s ZoomX, which makes use of Pebax or polyether block amide foam, appeared. Pebax is so light that it nearly seems supernatural.
Mindblowing Developments In Best Track Shoes For Sprinters
It was “mind-blowing”. It caused scientists and shoe manufacturers to reevaluate their presumptions. The body’s capacity for what a shoe could achieve changed.
The new foam is remarkably robust and softer than its predecessors. It provides athletes with greater comfort as it is compressed. 85% of the energy consumed by the runner to compress the ZoomX foam is returned once it bounces back to its original shape. (In contrast, ethylene foam returns between 60% and 70% of the energy used.)
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That is why we have not yet noticed super spikes, according to Healey. Before, the foam wasn’t durable enough to warrant including it in the shoe.
The rigid plates are composed of carbon fiber or hard plastic. This is another essential component of the super spikes. It enables sprinters to run on their toes. The majority of people strike the ground with their rear foot when they run heel to toe, sliding forward to propel themselves ahead with their toes. A marathon runner and movement-science researcher has a claim. Yet, it is an energetically expensive procedure. And that it necessitates slowing down with each step.
The runner said he tried Nike’s ZoomX Dragonflys, a pair of extremely spiked shoes. They “teetered-tottered” forward, forcing him to run only on his toes and midfoot.
Are Super Spikes Fair?
In the fast races, racers wearing Nike’s first super-spike prototypes have broken records. Some sportsmen continue to worry that Nike shoes give an unfair advantage. Despite the fact that other brands now make use of comparable designs.
Some guy won in the 400-meter hurdle race for men in Tokyo. He is a US competitor Rai Benjamin. He got criticism from Norwegian sprinter Karsten Warholm for donning Nike super spikes.
Although the carbon fiber plate on Puma super spike is identical to that on Nike’s.
The same three elements, carbon fiber, foam, and air, have been part of running shoes for decades by both Nike and other manufacturers.
The corporation claimed, “We’re just smarter about how we engineer and build them.
What Athletes Say About The Best Track Shoes For Sprinters
Usain Bolt has also voiced his displeasure with super spikes, albeit he did not single out Nike. At the 2008, 2012, and 2016 Olympics, Bolt won the men’s 100- and 200-meter sprints. He also claimed that super spikes provide current runners an advantage over past record-holders.
By the regulations set forth by World Athletics, the world’s governing organization of track and field. None of the super spikes being used at the Tokyo Games are in contravention of any laws.
Since shorter races are over in under a minute, super-spike technology doesn’t matter.
The efficiency of Nike’s spikes may go up by 2%, but other shoes are comparable.
Nike’s super spikes are simply scaled-down versions of the company’s popular Vaporfly shoe. Which has revolutionized the marathon world over the past five years.
Super spikes’ road-running equivalents are Vaporflys. They similarly include a rigid plate and durable foam. Independent researchers’ research, supported by Nike, revealed that the shoes give off around 4% extra energy per step.
Vaporfly users dominated the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio! As well as every significant long-distance road race following that.
The delay in the Olympics by a year gave those other businesses time to catch up to the Vaporfly technology. After Nike introduced its first super spikes, competitors had to scurry once again to catch up.
Conclusion
Nike’s super spikes might still offer an energy advantage of between 1.5% and 2%.
I hate to say it, but it’s kind of turned into an arms race. The success of runners is never just about their shoes, according to Nike.
However, in the end, it’s the athletes on the track and on the roads who validate Nike’s work.
Many athletes compete in non-Nike shoes and take home trophies. A new era of super spikes is here.
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