An Argument That Shoes Do Give Runners an Unfair Advantage
2019
Eliud Kipchoge crosses the finish line with five or six runners behind him cheering him on in Vienna for the Vienna City Marathon. As soon as they catch up to him they instantly hug and celebrate with Eliud. This is what happened on a cool Saturday morning in October when Eliud “unofficially” broke the world record time for a marathon and was the first ever to break the sub 2-hour time for a 26.2-mile race. All of this celebration throughout the day and week soon turned to controversy when Eliud’s shoes came under scrutiny, the Nike Vapor Fly. Some runners think that certain shoes pose an unfair advantage in different competitions around the world and with the research being conducted there is proof that some shoes pose an unfair advantage.
One of the biggest events recently that has been up for debate were two of the previous marathons that have recently taken place. In two different races the discussion on the shoes that were on their feet seemed more important than the actual races and times that they put together. Eliud Kipchoge and Brigid Kosgei both put up extraordinary times and new world records on their way to putting up new marks for the different races that they were in. Right after both had ended the race instead of talking about the accomplishments both of them were able to complete, people instead were looking at the shoes that they used to compete in. This was relevant in an article by Lulu Garcia-Navarro from NPR where she discussed with Amby Burfoot about the Nike Vapor Fly shoes. Lulu Garcia-Navarro from NPR quoted the former editor in chief at Runner's World Amby Burfoot saying, "In back-to-back marathons, two runners made records this month. What they had in common was their shoes. Both runners wore versions of a superfast Nike shoe called the Vapor fly. Their feats were so impressive, in fact, that the shoes are being investigated now for possibly giving the wearers an unfair advantage" (Burfoot). Lulu Garcia claims that the shoes had some type of unfair advantage that helped the runners break records. Burfoot said, " What's interesting about these shoes - I've been running for 50 years. And for 48 of those years, marathoners wore very, very thin shoes, figuring that lighter was better. These shoes are very thick. And yet they maintain lightness because they have a miraculous new foam. And they also increase energy return - or the bounce that you get from your shoes. So, it appears that people are running faster in them"(Garcia). According to Burfoot, the foam and thickness are somehow increasing the energy return runners get from their shoes and is playing and advantage compared to runners not wearing those shoes. Clearly these experts support the idea that Nike is producing shoes that their athletes are wearing and obtaining an unfair advantage in doing so.
In a brand-new article posted by Vox’s Delia Paunescu there is solid evidence conducted by sports journalist Alex Hutchinson that shows “Nike’s high-tech Vaporfly sneakers help athletes run 4 percent faster." Alex Hutchinson has been looking into these shoes since 2017, in Italy he watched Eliud Kipchoge attempt to break the two-hour mark also wearing the Nike Vaporfly shoes. Alex said, “The time on the clock was faster by a huge chunk than anyone had ever done before. And that was just baffling to see. It changed my perceptions — and I think a lot of other people’s perceptions — of how fast a person can move his or her legs over that distance” (Hutchinson). Also stated by Alex is that the Nike Vaporfly has been dominating professional and amateur running over the last couple of years, “People wearing those shoes have absolutely dominated major marathon races around the world. The five fastest men’s marathons in history have all been run in the last 13 months, all by runners wearing Vaporfly shoes. Not just all-time greats who are running fast, the top runners are running faster than anyone ever has before” (Hutchinson). Someone who has a different view is Nick Thompson, editor-in-chief of Wired Magazine who said, “If they’re improving performance because they’re lighter and because there’s really good foam, that strikes me as quite fair. If they’re improving performance because of the carbon fiber plate, which is you increasing your rebound when you run on the road, that’s more complicated” (Thompson). Alex who disagreed with this statement thinks that if regulators don’t act soon and decide what shoes are allowed in certain competitions and what shoes are banned from competitions the world records will continue to drop and there will be a situation where all of the records in the last five years could potentially have been run in “illegal” and banned shoes.
There are so many different options for shoes for runners to wear during races that there on first glance doesn’t seem to be an unfair advantage to the runners and athletes as they are competing, but through research there is a link that poses an advantage enough to have certain shoes banned from competition. Of course, there would be a difference depending on what shoes people are wearing just based off of the features of the shoes. The weight, fabric, even the insoles will play a difference depending on what shoes someone is wearing. The feeling and comfortability on your feet can help make the difference on a good or bad run. In the argument of there being an unfair advantage enough to make it ban shoes for certain high-profile races potentially could be necessary. Debating on the shoes runners are wearing on their feet you should also look at the athletes themselves. The accolades and past performances should be in the picture for any arguments that went into a debate if a runner had an unfair advantage before some shoes are banned, but there is solid evidence to show there is a slight advantage and that advantage is enough that some action is needed in banning certain shoes from competition. Anybody who has an interest in running needs to follow in Alex’s footsteps and bring this argument to the attention of the judges for these competitions so the future issues of this can be prevented.