The Controversy Behind Nike’s Vaporfly Running Shoe, Explained | WSJ

introduction of the vapor fly to the running community really has changed what we think of as possible for running particularly in the marathon the shoes certainly are game-changing and transformative this is a very sizeable seismic shift these are Nikes vapor flies critics say the sneakers provide an unfair advantage to those who race in them and that their revolutionary design threatens the very integrity of the sport itself so does the technology inside them given unfair advantage and should they be banned from competition with the Tokyo Olympics around the corner this summer these are the questions facing the world of competitive running on October 12th 2019 elite marathoner le of khashoggi ran 26.2 miles in less than two hours breaking one of sports greatest barriers costing the next day fellow Kenyan Bridgette cascade shattered the woman's marathon record in Chicago what both runners had in common was what was on their feet both athletes were wearing versions of Nikes vapor fly racing shoes which according to the company allow runners to improve their times by up to 4.2 percent and if recent records are any indication those claims may actually be true since the vapor flies were released male runners in the Nike shoes have run five of the top ten fastest marathon times ever recorded and it's not just the elites that have embraced the vapor fly if you visit the starting lines of any road race in the United States today from a major marathon to a local 5k chances are you'll come across the distinctive neon sneakers but Nikes success hasn't come without controversy ever since the shoes were introduced in 2017 they've ignited a fierce debate about whether the vapor flies should be banned from competition until now tracks international governing body world athletics has provided only a loose guideline on sneaker tech shoes must not be constructed so as to give athletes and the unfair assistance or advantage in a statement to The Wall Street Journal Nike said we respect world athletics and the spirit of their rules and we do not create any running shoes that return more energy than the runner Bend's who with the Tokyo Olympics around the corner this July World Athletics launched an investigation into the vapor flies the results of which are expected before the end of the month a person in the street could say well why would you not use them because they give you an advantage the same people might say well why don't you allow doping because that can be accessible to everybody and if it doesn't harm them then why can't they just do doping and some people have suggested that the shoe issue right now is a form of mechanical doping peter thompson has spent his career coaching professional distance runners all over the world throughout Alberto Salazar Rudy Chapa like many in the running community he thinks the vapor flies should be banned from competition to protect the integrity of the sport the definition of cheating is doing something to deliberately gain an unfair advantage why are we doing our sport are we doing it purely for performance or is it for the competition of person against person if it's about competition person against person then the need for a level level playing field is is exemplified to find out why the vapor flies have proven to be such a breakthrough in shoe design we visited the University of Michigan's orthopedic research laboratory for dissection today we're going to cut open a pair of Nike Vapor flying next percent to see what's inside so this shoe has different features that I'd like to point out to you first the hue has a new cut type of foam P backs which Nike calls Zoom X is a foam found an airplane insulation that is squishier bouncier and lighter than the foams typically found in running shoes second you can see the full-length carbon fiber plate and this carbon fiber plate adds a lot of stiffness and stability to the shoe as well the science behind how the vapor flies foam plate system works still isn't entirely clear but what is is that this technology could be transformative for the sport we are in a place right now where there is a before the vapor fly and after the vapor fly period we're in we're in the transition period right now it's a very uncomfortable place as a fan of the sport and as a competitor in this sport Jeff burns is a professional ultra runner and a University of Michigan doctoral candidate in biomechanics last year Burns co-authored a paper in which he argued for a compromise between those who would like to see the shoes banned from competition and those who see the vapor flies as the next step in the sports technological innovation so my co-author and I recommended that we simply regulate the midsole thickness of the shoe much like weighing our shop puts before we throw them the idea is limit the thickness of the midsole so then now moving forward we have a definition that shoes are 40 millimetres or shoes are 35 millimetres or shoes are 45 millimetres or less we have that space in which to innovate until the vapor flies came along marathon racing shoes mostly relied on thin rubber soles the big idea being the lighter the shoes the faster you run for years shoe companies have offered products to improve performance but at least for running no one product eclipsed the competition in the same way the vapor flies out today so in distance running there hasn't been a profound technological advancement in the past 40 to 50 years the vapor fly represents the first time that we've seen a distinct seismic shift in something that benefits performance Burns's proposal allows for shoes like the vapor flies to remain in competition but with clear limits on how the technology can be developed going forward this middle ground approach in sport isn't without precedent I am wearing the fastest suit in the world and that's a fact during the 2008 Olympics in Beijing every swimmer who could get one was wearing speedos laser bodysuit developed with help from NASA the laser was a technological breakthrough in swimwear design that cut down on the body's friction and water by mimicking shark skin and world records just crashed FINA the world governing body of swimming the suit after an unprecedented number of swimmers broke world records in it but Finas policy like Burns's proposal was a compromise although full-length suits were banned the laser's revolutionary material is still permitted in competition swimwear we wanted to get a runner's first-hand account of how the vapor flies compared to the competition so burns recruited a fellow competitive marathoner and olympic marathon trials qualifier URIs Silla NEX so to compare the vapor fly with conventional shoe the adidas adios boost we're gonna have you run two miles on the treadmill the plan was to have URIs run a mile in his training shoes adidas is a teos boost and it's the shoe that the previous marathon world record was set in and then a mile in the vapor flies good work dude how did it feel in the shoes great yeah II haven't had a shoe that's like it just I take your turn you feel like you you can hear the bouncing on these interacting in the ground in these everything you just feel it way more yeah I'm harder like you feel feeling you feel the pounding a little bit more and in the vapor flies you're just with the Olympic Trials approaching this June qualifiers like SIL and X are waiting for World Athletics is guidance on what they'll be allowed to lace up in come race day

Channel: Wall Street Journal

Views: 6,455,695

Keywords: nike, nike wsj, new nike shoes, nike shoes cheating, running cheating, sports running, sports, wsj, the wall street journal, explained, explainer, wall street journal, tech, technology, shoes, shoe tech, shoes tech, shoe technology, sneakers, sneaker, business, marathon, marathon cheating, marathon running, marathon shoe, running, running shoes, new running shoes nike, new nike shoes cheating, vapor fly, vaporfly, nike vapor fly, nike vaporfly, new vaporfly shoes, nike new vaporfly shoes

Id: wVXrIaPuP7c

Length: 8min 27sec (507 seconds)

Published: Thu Jan 23 2020

Reddit Comments

[u/dog_in_the_vent]

The "fair" compromise is to make them all wear the same type of shoe.

Saying it's cheating because it gives them an unfair advantage isn't really accurate. It's not an unfair advantage because everybody can get the shoe. If wearing nice shoes is unfair, where do we draw the line? Is training at high altitudes unfair? What about proper diet and nutrition? Those are both things that everybody can do that increase performance, just like wearing Vaporflys.

[u/Otterslayer22]

Just make them run nude. There done. Fixed it.

[u/SparkyPantsMcGee]

So wait, Nike invents a shoe that makes running easier on the athletes and could potentially move the sport forward(ha!)...and people want to ban it instead of make it the standard?

In my field when something is invented to make the job easier people genuinely get excited! This is the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard.

[u/Ziltoid_]

This video has a really interesting premise, but didn't follow up with much information.

So I followed it up with this other video that explained the shoe in the context of recent shoes and actually how it works: https://youtube.com/watch?v=oCyHANAJt6Q

[u/DoctorWholigian]

make everyone run naked on grass.

Bur seriously this is silly should you ban or give Kenyans a handicap bc they have genetic traits that give them "unfair" advantage. No competition will ever be 100% fair why not let shoe technology develop. I don't see why all facets of human triumph (technological and physical) shouldn't be present in the competition. Unless the shoes are too expensive to be owned by anyone but the host country. Just give everyone the shoe.

[u/SirLasberry]

They should just create a benchmark and decide what percentage of energy is allowed to be returned, instead of banning springs, levers or other technologies.

[u/supermoose]

This sounds like an ad.

[u/DisgustingNekbeard69]

What dumb fuck would ban these? Its an advamcement in technology and himan engineering. If you dont like them dont use them. Its not bioengineered its not augmenting their bodies. People need to shut the fuck up and chill.

[u/Soviet_Ski]

Hoka One One has a similar shoe. Run in that, avoid controversy, win gold. ta-da!