Did Eliud Kipchoge get a boost from his sneakers on his sub-two-hour marathon? It appears so, and Nike and Asics might have the fastest distance-running shoes on the market. Researchers at Stephen F. Austin State University in Nacogdoches, Texas, have compared the “running economy” – best conversion of energy to speed – of eight models of running shoes, all but one carbon-plated. The control shoe, to establish a baseline, was the Asics Hyperspeed racing flat. The ranking of best to worst is as follows: Nike Alphafly (3.03% improvement), Nike Vaporfly 2 (2.72%), Asics Metaspeed Sky (2.52%), Saucony Endorphin Pro (1.48%), New Balance RC Elite (1.37%), Brooks Hyperion Elite 2 (0.53%), Hoka Rocket X (0.08%) and Asics Hyperspeed (racing-flat control: 0.0%). The tests were run, literally, by 12 males performing successive one-mile trials, one per shoe model. This was done twice on separate days. Extrapolated, the results suggest that a runner’s choice of the shoe could gain or cost him as much as half a minute in a five-kilometer race, or as many as six minutes in a marathon. The study shows in addition that ground contact is longer and cadence higher with racing flats, whereas carbon-plating leads the stride to lengthen and cadence to decline.

Topics