Carbon plate shoes - what’s all the fuss?
I have come to the Vaporfly party late. Yes, I have heard about the ‘shoe-doping’ controversy surrounding the original Breaking2 and subsequent Ineos 1:59 project as Eliud Kipchoge became the first human to run 26.2miles in under two hours, albeit with artificial conditions, pacers, cars to slipstream etc in October 2019.
There is an extremely loyal following to the Nike ZoomX range and in particular the game changing carbon plated Vaporflys and the iterative innovation of the AlphaFly that Kipchoge broke the magic 2 hour barrier with.
The shoes, which retail at about £250 (£210 for Vaporfly Next% 2), have already had a transformational impact on the times run by the world’s top long distance runners Key to the trainers’ success are a carbon-fibre plate running along the length of the sole and a super-responsive spongy stacked heel, with the two elements combining to create more propulsion when running. This results in more energy return, ie, less energy expended per stride as well as a slightly longer stride. Laboratory tests suggest runners wearing the shoes can improve their times by about 4 per cent, although many amateur runners report far greater benefits hence Nike’s use 4% and Next % in the Vaporfly shoe’s name.
Key innovations:-
Super responsive foam - Nike ZoomX delivers 85% energy return (anything more than 100% of course, would not be permitted) & spongy heel dampens impact
Stiff carbon plate inside enhances propulsion
Lightweight upper (flyknit or vaporweave) engineered to keep feet cool and rain out.
World records tumbling
Last October Brigid Kosgei took four minutes off her personal best to shatter Paula Radcliffe’s 16-year-old marathon world record in a time of 2hr 14min 4sec.
The record books have been rewritten on the roads, by a string of athletes wearing Vaporfly and Alphafly. Inevitably, this led to runners and their coaches complaining about the technology: carbon plates and a super-responsive foam — appearing in track spikes, see article on the Nike Viperfly.
Not everyone sees the innovation as positive, already referring to a before Vaporfly and after VF era. For example, James Templeton, the former manager of 800m world record-holder David Rudisha, says “It’s a pity to have records smashed because shoes are so good,” he said. “Look at what Cheptegei did. He is a very good athlete but there is nothing in these last years to suggest he was a challenger to Bekele. And here he is sauntering through a world-record race.”
New World Athletics regulations, announced in January 2020, stated that shoes must have soles no thicker than 40mm and have no more than one rigid plate. They also stated that, from April 2020, shoes worn in competition must have been on the market for four months
Trailing pack
Other sportswear brands have suffered. In January 2020, the share price of Asics, the Japanese sports shoe manufacturer, fell sharply after research showed that 84% of athletes in a televised road race in Japan were wearing a version of the Vaporfly shoe.
In February 2020, World Athletics introduced a set of new regulations in response to the outcry over the Vaporfly effect , setting limits on plate use and the depth of the sole (40mm) in road shoes and track spikes.
The Vaporfly effect has had such an impact that the British olympic marathon qualifying trial winner, Chris Thomson, was given permission by his shoe sponsors On to wear Nike Vaporfly Next% shoes, to pursue his Olympic dream. Like a secretive prototype sports car, they were painted black. On hadn’t quite perfected their carbon-plated offering.
The pandemic and postponement of the Tokyo Olympics have allowed rival manufacturers to close the gap on Nike with their own innovative super shoes utilising carbon plates , responsive foam and lightweight uppers in their own way - for example the Adidas adizero pro, Asics are releasing two with the Metaspeed Sky and Metaspeed Edge. Watch this space, we will be publishing more content about other brand’s carbon plate offerings.
Read about the UK Marathon trials or the withdrawn Nike ZoomX Viperfly.
