Last month’s London Marathon made history, with Kenyan runner Sabastian SAWE winning in 1 hour, 59 minutes and 30 seconds and becoming the centre of attention. Ethiopian runner Yomif KEJELCHA finished second in 1 hour, 59 minutes and 40 seconds. Along with the women’s champion, all three athletes wore the latest “super shoes” from the same brand, once again drawing public attention to the issue of sports technology and fairness in competition.
Dr Jason CHEUNG, Principal Research Fellow of Research Institute for Sports Science and Technology (RISports) at PolyU, said in a recent interview with RTHK that the key to “super shoes” lies not only in the carbon-fibre plate, but also in its combination with highly resilient, ultra-light foam materials. Together, these features improve propulsion while reducing energy expenditure. Since the first generation of super shoes was launched in 2017, the technology has advanced rapidly, enabling running shoes to retain their thick-soled design while achieving both lightweight and high responsiveness.
Dr Cheung explained that “running economy” refers to the amount of energy a runner expends at a fixed speed: the lower the oxygen consumption, the greater the running efficiency. Research shows that for every additional 100 grams in a shoe, an athlete’s oxygen consumption may increase by around 1%. Earlier studies on super shoes also found that, on average, they could reduce oxygen consumption by approximately 4%.
He added that World Athletics has tightened its regulations in recent years, introducing limits on the sole thickness of shoes used in marathon races (not exceeding 40 millimetres), permitting only one carbon-fibre plate per shoe, and requiring competition footwear to be made commercially available before the race. These measures are intended to strike a balance between encouraging innovation and preserving fair competition.
Online coverage:
RTHK - https://polyu.me/4ubRoIs (24:18 - 40:07)
| Research Units | Research Institute for Sports Science and Technology |
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