The Shoe So Good the Olympics Declared It Cheating

Video written by Adam Chase

[michaellyden]

This whole thing sounds like nothing less than absolute genius advertising on the part of Nike. I wouldn't be surprised if it turned out that Nike had secretly lobbied to have these shoes banned.

[peter]

The shoe that broke the 2 hr barrier was the Alphafly, a higher stacked version of the Vaporfly. While there are not a lot of details about that exact version Eliud wore, World Athletics then set 40 mm as the standard for the stack height, which both the Vaporfly and the Alphafly both have. They haven’t been banned from competition, everyone uses them lol.

[DragongeekAndCo]

I think we should just split sports into two categories:
One for the "purists" where all the athletes compete naked and without any gear that may give a technological advantage in any way
One for the "hardcore" crowd where there are no rules. Instead of about athletics, it will basically be an engineering competition.

[BatCaveOz]

Regulations state that the shoe "must not give athletes any unfair advantage or assistance".
Yet *every* piece of athletic shoe marketing in the past 50 years claims to provide an unfair advantage.
Is the Nike VaporFly the first time we weren't being lied to in shoe advertising, and the shoe actually conveyed benefit?

[eoghanmyers]

I did a case study on the LZR Racers in first year college. The benefits of wearing multiple stacked and obviously they're difficult to put on, so it got to the point where races were delayed by athletes taking hours to put on 3 layers of the most skintight suits you can imagine.

They stacked because not only did they affect hydrodynamics, they trapped a pocket of air that kept your legs higher in the water. This mean that the force you're generating with your legs can be directed at a shallower angle, meaning more propulsion forward and less force upward to maintain body position and floatation

[antic]

This video would have been accurate 2 years ago. Now, almost brands have caught up, and you can get a supershoe from almost any major running shoe company, and actually research has shown that the different shoes work better for other runners too. Nike is not the only shoe getting podiums anymore. Adidas, ASICS, Puma, New Balance, Brooks, Saucony. And in the trail world Hoka still reigns supreme it looks like.

[FireAngelZero]

I’ve bought these Vaporfly shoes since they were released and they definitely feel as advertised. One thing I notice is I’m not as tired as I used to during my runs. I still buy the Vaporflys to this day

[vgmasterv]

I’m a swimmer and the suits he was talking about were actually crazy fast. They just made the same suit and cut the legs off below the knee.

[ironcarry]

It will come a day where Sam and his team proove to the world that they know the difference between > and <, but today is not that day.

[paulchengformayor]

That sub 2 hour run was also assisted by a rotating runners groups to run ahead of kipchoge to break the air around him. I forget at what frequency they would rotate, but that also helped him maintain pace.

[WilliamLeeSims]

Ran a marathon "in under 2 hours" and "> 2 HOURS"?!?!? Those are some pretty good shoes.

[albertteng]

Actually, running shoes midsole always revolves around EVA foam. Shoe companies just innovate the upper and the outsole and tinker with the formula for their EVA. It was until adidas came out with boost midsole that jolts the other shoe companies to think of introducing their own midsole material. Adidas boost was so revolutionary that it changed the midsole game forever. A few years after boost was introduced, nike came out with lunarfoam, react midsole, asics with flytfoam blast, skechers with hyperburst, New Balance with freshfoam, under armour with hovr (also pebax based). So all in all, we have adidas to thank for giving us cushy shoes with big energy returns.

[jasonlib]

in the discussion about human athletic ability vs having the best gear. It has always been the person with the best gear that won, this isn't something new. even if the shoe was the same as everyone else, the person with the better training equipment, the better coach. the more custom designed fitment, or the best quality meal plan and supplements. That is the person who wins.


at the top level of athletics, its always been the person with the more money and time to train who wins. The guy who trains i the local pool twice a week around work is never going to beat the guy with their own pool at home who can train every day. That's the reality of any sport.

[J_bixby]

Even with the very best shoes, its still just your own two legs, training, nutrition and race strategy. Being able to maintain 4:35 pace for 1:59:42 is superhuman. Honestly, try it. Put the treadmill at your gym up to the very highest it will go and see how long you can sustain that speed for. Hate when people question the legitimacy of Kipchoges achievement (it wasn't an official record anyway because it wasn't real race conditions, I get that bit). Also side-note, MOST olympic marathon runners now wear the vaporfly, next % or other super shoe.

[meridian]

Didn't know this was a thing, but also explains why I felt that my shoes almost encouraged me to step forward when I got my first pair of running shoes a year ago (i'm over 30) I've never had shoes like this before and it tooks a while to adjust to. Its still a noticeable sensation to run in them.

[TimKhalikov]

It’s important to mention that the marathon record was also “broken” with a constant slipstream of pacemakers and hence does not count as an official record.

[domingosvarelamarreiros]

Hey, great video as always. But you may want to add a correction: at the beginning when you show a picture of Eliud running the sub 2 hour marathon in Vienna, it’s NOT the Vaporfly. Those are the Alphafly. They’re significantly different (the Alphafly have an air pod). Might want to correct that!

[henrytang]

I'd say that any 'passive' sports gear for running and swimming should be legal, as you're just using the athlete's body and power more efficiently. Passive means no additional energy so no motors.

[technetium]

I personally think shoes give an unfair advantage, so no shoes, hell clothes are an unfair advantage, no clothes, make the Olympics fun, but seriously, make the most advantage you can, that won't adversely hurt the athlete

[jerry]

I think sports attire should be standardised for competitions like this. That way it’s guaranteed to be fair.