Australia is exploring developing a new high-tech, aerodynamically streamlined “speed suit” for its runners, similar to the one worn by Scot Josh Kerr when he broke the mile world record earlier this month.
Speed suits have joined super shoes in the arms race for an edge in athletics.
Kerr wore a running spike specially tailored by his shoe and apparel company Brooks, as well as an aerodynamically designed and tested speed suit with few seams, holes and a blend of fabrics, all of which were tested in a wind tunnel.
Australian Athletics head coach Andrew Faichney said the coaches and athletes were collaborating with their sponsor Puma to explore a similar speed suit for Australian athletes.
“There is only so much in athletics that technology can affect, it is not like cycling and other events. Running a mile it’s just you and your contact with the air and with the ground,” Faichney said.
“We have had some discussions and done some preliminary aerodynamic testing on that about suits for our athletes with our sponsor Puma.
“It’s certainly something we are interested in and will explore further with Puma but we – the athletes and Puma – need to work out how much of a difference it actually makes.
“All of the companies have put a lot of work into all of the spikes and shoes for all running and jumping events now.”
Initially, companies invested most heavily in shoes for marathon runners because that also captured the amateur and weekend park runners who wanted the best shoes for whatever distance they were running. The global market for sports shoes is estimated around $US150 billion.
“The shoes are very different to what they were even three, four or five years ago,” Faichney said.
The spike Kerr wore was called a Hyperion 222, the numbers referencing the number of seconds he needed to cut from his personal best to break the world record.
The spike doesn’t have much foam in the heel and a lot in the midsole, so it creates a rocker effect. It is less pronounced than the amount of foam in the super shoes that transformed marathon running, but the intent – to push the athlete forward – is similar.
According to The Atlantic, Kerr’s shoes were tailored to taper tightly across the toes and used titanium plates, pins and carbon fibre plates for stiffness to offset the sponge of the foam. It created almost a trampolining effect.
All the shoe companies are doing what they can in research and innovation, notwithstanding the limits put on the thickness foam in the heel after the Paris Olympics in 2024. They are also looking at tech in apparel, developing speed suits.
Nike famously developed a hooded speed suit for Catherine Freeman when she won gold in the 400m at the Sydney Olympics.
ASICS was the first of the shoe companies to establish an institute of sport technology for research and innovation. Initially based in Japan, it’s now in California and collaborates with universities.
ASICS developed its Metaspeed range, including the Metaspeed Ray that was publicly released late last year. At 129 grams, it is the lightest racing shoe. Italian Iliass Aouani wore them when he won bronze in the marathon at the world championships.
ON, a relatively new brand founded in Switzerland that has enjoyed rapid market growth, is developing a new sports institute in St Moritz.
Nike initially caught a break on the super shoes market in terms of success at the elite level with its Vaporfly – and how you disentangle the quality of the athlete from the quality of the shoe is academic here – but Adidas in recent years has had the edge at the top level.
Sebastian Sawe was wearing the adizero adios pro evo 3 when he became the first man ever to break two hours for the marathon. Yomif Kejelcha, who finished second in the same race but also broke two hours and was wearing the same model shoe, as was Tigst Assefa when she broke the women’s marathon record.
Puma released its new marathon shoe, the Fast-R Nitro Elite 3, earlier this year, citing a University of Massachusetts analysis which said the shoe “provides 3.15 per cent improved running economy”.
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Michael Gleeson is an award-winning senior sports writer specialising in AFL and athletics.Connect via X or email.
