World Athletics puts the brakes on Nike's record-breaking shoes | The Business Standard
Skip to main content
  • Latest
  • Economy
    • Banking
    • Stocks
    • Industry
    • Analysis
    • Bazaar
    • RMG
    • Corporates
    • Aviation
  • Videos
    • TBS Today
    • TBS Stories
    • TBS World
    • News of the day
    • TBS Programs
    • Podcast
    • Editor's Pick
  • World+Biz
  • Features
    • Panorama
    • The Big Picture
    • Pursuit
    • Habitat
    • Thoughts
    • Splash
    • Mode
    • Tech
    • Explorer
    • Brands
    • In Focus
    • Book Review
    • Earth
    • Food
    • Luxury
    • Wheels
  • Subscribe
    • Epaper
    • GOVT. Ad
  • More
    • Sports
    • TBS Graduates
    • Bangladesh
    • Supplement
    • Infograph
    • Archive
    • Gallery
    • Long Read
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Magazine
    • Climate Change
    • Health
    • Cartoons
  • বাংলা
The Business Standard

Saturday
July 12, 2025

Sign In
Subscribe
  • Latest
  • Economy
    • Banking
    • Stocks
    • Industry
    • Analysis
    • Bazaar
    • RMG
    • Corporates
    • Aviation
  • Videos
    • TBS Today
    • TBS Stories
    • TBS World
    • News of the day
    • TBS Programs
    • Podcast
    • Editor's Pick
  • World+Biz
  • Features
    • Panorama
    • The Big Picture
    • Pursuit
    • Habitat
    • Thoughts
    • Splash
    • Mode
    • Tech
    • Explorer
    • Brands
    • In Focus
    • Book Review
    • Earth
    • Food
    • Luxury
    • Wheels
  • Subscribe
    • Epaper
    • GOVT. Ad
  • More
    • Sports
    • TBS Graduates
    • Bangladesh
    • Supplement
    • Infograph
    • Archive
    • Gallery
    • Long Read
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Magazine
    • Climate Change
    • Health
    • Cartoons
  • বাংলা
SATURDAY, JULY 12, 2025
World Athletics puts the brakes on Nike's record-breaking shoes

Sports

TBS Report
31 January, 2020, 11:00 pm
Last modified: 31 January, 2020, 11:07 pm

Related News

  • Footwear brands including Nike and Adidas ask Trump for tariff exemption
  • Nike and Levi’s open flagship store in Dhanmondi 27
  • Nike to post steepest sales drop since COVID, analysts expect target reset
  • The Dutchman who gets Nike and Lego into wartime Russia's stores
  • Just wasn't in the stars - Tiger Woods-Nike split was a long time coming

World Athletics puts the brakes on Nike's record-breaking shoes

The new rules also state that, from April 30, any shoe used in elite competition must have been generally available to the public for four months - putting paid to the use by Nike and others of prototypes by their athletes in major races.

TBS Report
31 January, 2020, 11:00 pm
Last modified: 31 January, 2020, 11:07 pm
General view of an athlete wearing the Nike Vaporfly shoes.  Photo: Reuters
General view of an athlete wearing the Nike Vaporfly shoes. Photo: Reuters

Some variants of Nike's Vaporfly running shoes have been outlawed for elite competition and strict limits on the technology developed for any future shoes introduced after World Athletics announced significant changes to its rules on Friday.

The sport's governing body (WA) said that with immediate effect and for elite competition only, road shoes must have soles no thicker than 40mm and not contain more than one rigid, embedded plate.

The Vaporfly variants used by Eliud Kipchoge to run the first sub-two-hour marathon and by fellow Kenyan Brigid Kosgei to smash the women's marathon world record both contained triple carbon plates inside thick, ultra-compressed foam, said by Nike to help improve running economy by up to four per cent.

The Business Standard Google News Keep updated, follow The Business Standard's Google news channel

The new rules also state that, from April 30, any shoe used in elite competition must have been generally available to the public for four months - putting paid to the use by Nike and others of prototypes by their athletes in major races.

There will also be new rules governing the construction of track spikes.

WA's review concluded that the new technology "may provide a performance advantage and could raise concerns that it might threaten the integrity of the sport".

WA will now establish an expert working group to guide future research into shoe technology and to assess new shoes that emerge on the market.

Nike did not immediately respond to Reuters' request for comment on the decision.

"It is not our job to regulate the entire sports shoe market but it is our duty to preserve the integrity of elite competition by ensuring that the shoes worn by elite athletes in competition do not offer any unfair assistance or advantage," WA President Sebastian Coe said in a statement.

"As we enter the Olympic year, we don't believe we can rule out shoes that have been generally available for a considerable period of time, but we can draw a line by prohibiting the use of shoes that go further than what is currently on the market while we investigate further.

"I believe these new rules strike the right balance by offering certainty to athletes and manufacturers as they prepare for Tokyo 2020, while addressing the concerns that have been raised about shoe technology."

Secret weapon

Nike unleashed the Vaporfly in 2016 and various versions have quickly come to dominate the elite and "serious recreational" side of road running.

Marathon superstar Kipchoge has been the model's flagbearer, wearing them to set a world record, win the 2016 Olympic title and then go under two hours in an unofficial marathon.

Kosgei ran 2:14.04 in last year's Chicago Marathon, taking 81 seconds off Briton Paula Radcliffe's 16-year-old women's marathon world record and making her almost three minutes faster than any other woman in history.

Vaporflys have featured in several other records in the last three years and athletes wearing them took 31 of the 36 top-three finishes in the Marathon Majors series last year. The distinctive pink and green footwear is now widespread throughout the fields of every major race.

Kipchoge and other leading athletes have welcomed the shoes as a natural technological advance, but others say they have gone too far, with Yannis Pitsiladis, a professor of sport and exercise science at Britain's Brighton University, calling them "technological doping".

Nike says the shoes, which cost around $250 and have a lifespan of only around 200 miles, have "a built-in secret weapon that provides a propulsive sensation".

Other manufacturers have also released, or are developing, their own carbon-insoled shoes, but WA's ruling would now appear to have put the brakes on.

WA's action echoes that of swimming' s governing body, which a decade ago banned Speedo's record-smashing LZR speed suit.

Others

Nike

Comments

While most comments will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive, moderation decisions are subjective. Published comments are readers’ own views and The Business Standard does not endorse any of the readers’ comments.

Top Stories

  • Representational image
    In addition to 35% tariff, US demands 40% local value addition for 'Made in Bangladesh' goods
  • Kunming rising: China's emerging healthcare hub draws Bangladeshi patients
    Kunming rising: China's emerging healthcare hub draws Bangladeshi patients
  • Photo: Courtesy
    4 arrested, 2 remanded over brutal killing of trader near Mitford Hospital

MOST VIEWED

  • In terms of stream of education, girls maintained their excellence as well. Photo: TBS
    SSC 2025: Girls dominate boys by over 5%
  • Photo: Mohammad Minhaj Uddin/TBS
    SSC, equivalent results: Pass rate drops to 68.45%, GPA-5 also declines
  • The overall pass rate across all boards this year, 68.45%, is significantly lower than last year's. Photo: Focus Bangla
    SSC 2025: Rajshahi board records highest pass rate, Barishal lowest
  • How S Alam’s Global Islami Bank cooked Tk2,259cr loss into Tk128cr profit
    How S Alam’s Global Islami Bank cooked Tk2,259cr loss into Tk128cr profit
  • Representational image. Photo: TBS
    SSC 2025: 73.63% pass rate among technical students, 68.09% at Madrasahs
  • Economist Abul Barkat; Photo: Courtesy
    Economist Abul Barkat arrested in graft case

Related News

  • Footwear brands including Nike and Adidas ask Trump for tariff exemption
  • Nike and Levi’s open flagship store in Dhanmondi 27
  • Nike to post steepest sales drop since COVID, analysts expect target reset
  • The Dutchman who gets Nike and Lego into wartime Russia's stores
  • Just wasn't in the stars - Tiger Woods-Nike split was a long time coming

Features

Kunming rising: China's emerging healthcare hub draws Bangladeshi patients

Kunming rising: China's emerging healthcare hub draws Bangladeshi patients

8h | Panorama
Photo: Collected/BBC

What Hitler’s tariff policy misfire can teach the modern world

1d | The Big Picture
Illustration: TBS

Behind closed doors: Why women in Bangladesh stay in abusive marriages

1d | Panorama
Purbachl’s 144-acre Sal forest is an essential part of the area’s biodiversity. Within it, 128 species of plants and 74 species of animals — many of them endangered — have been identified. Photo: Syed Zakir Hossain/TBS

A forest saved: Inside the restoration of Purbachal's last Sal grove

1d | Panorama

More Videos from TBS

Renowned economist Abul Barkat imprisoned

Renowned economist Abul Barkat imprisoned

6h | TBS Today
All of Iran's uranium still intact, Israel claims

All of Iran's uranium still intact, Israel claims

6h | TBS World
Trump-Netanyahu in new strategy on Gaza issue

Trump-Netanyahu in new strategy on Gaza issue

8h | TBS World
Shocking science: why birds stay safe on electricity lines

Shocking science: why birds stay safe on electricity lines

8h | TBS Stories
EMAIL US
contact@tbsnews.net
FOLLOW US
WHATSAPP
+880 1847416158
The Business Standard
  • About Us
  • Contact us
  • Sitemap
  • Advertisement
  • Privacy Policy
  • Comment Policy
Copyright © 2025
The Business Standard All rights reserved
Technical Partner: RSI Lab

Contact Us

The Business Standard

Main Office -4/A, Eskaton Garden, Dhaka- 1000

Phone: +8801847 416158 - 59

Send Opinion articles to - oped.tbs@gmail.com

For advertisement- sales@tbsnews.net