Another Look at Super Spikes
by Melinda Burris

I initially covered super spikes following the 2021 Olympics. At that time, wearing super spikes — track spikes that use a lightweight, yielding, and resilient foam along with a carbon fiber plate – was believed to provide the wearer advantages compared to competitors wearing traditional track spikes. Since then, elite athletes wearing super spikes have become the norm, not the exception, so I am revisiting the issue.
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Why It’s Difficult to Test Super Spikes in Studies

There is a question about how feasible it is to test super spikes in controlled studies to see if they make a significant difference in middle and long-distance events. Track Coach Jim Davis explains that marathon super shoes are easily tested to see if they give an advantage because you simply “get a group of runners, then have them run on a treadmill at marathon pace and monitor their oxygen consumption both in regular shoes and super shoes.”¹

If findings show the runners wearing super shoes are taking in less oxygen, this is a clear signal that wearing these shows “is improving their running economy.”¹ As Coach Davis aptly points out, you can’t use this approach to test super spikes because spikes can’t be worn on a treadmill. The second major issue is that for track shoes your concern is not whether they make a difference when running at a marathon pace but rather if they make a difference when running in events like the 800m, 5k, or 10k.¹

Davis details another reason the same testing mechanism would not give answers for track events in this way:

“Unfortunately, you can’t test running energetics at paces faster than about half marathon pace: because you are relying on anaerobic energy production, oxygen consumption is no longer a good proxy for the energetic cost of running, deformation, and excellent energy return, and carbon fiber plates in the midsole.”¹

New Rules Regarding the Use of Super Spikes

Though super spikes have been accepted in elite track competitions and the perception that the use of this advanced shoe technology is cheating has waned, World Athletics has instituted several regulations limiting the use of these so-called super shoes and super spikes for competitions sanctioned by that governing body.

1. Custom or prototype super shoes and super spikes cannot be worn. All shoes of this type must be available commercially.¹
2. For elite competitions such as the Olympics and World Championships, super spikes cannot be taller than 20 mm (approximately 0.75 inches).¹
3. The World Athletics rules clearly state this maximum height limit does not apply to school competitions.¹

Davis argues “…almost every ‘normal’ running shoe is thicker than 20 mm, [so] there is no possible way this rule would ever be enacted at the high school level—plenty of JV runners don’t own spikes of any kind, so they’re routinely competing in normal running shoes with stack heights over 20 mm.”¹

College-level events seem unlikely to create new restrictions about the use of these super shoes as at present there are no limitations on shoe thickness in any NCAA competitions or events with the lone exception of the high jump.¹

While the impact and fairness of wearing these so-called “super” shoes is still a subject of debate among experts and running enthusiasts online, for now at least, the question has been settled and super spikes are here to stay.

The Findings of a 2022 Scientific Study

A 2022 scientific study agrees with Coach Davis’s summation that testing track shoes poses a “unique challenge.”³

There is agreement, however, among multiple sources that the evolution of this new shoe technology has coincided with what the researchers refer to as “a wave of record-breaking times and top performances.”³ It’s only natural then that questions have been raised about how many of these new records should be attributed at least in part to innovations in footwear and how it may impact running performance.

Ultimately, the study concluded that at present, “…the specific contributions of new innovations in footwear, including lightweight, resilient, and compliant midsole foam, altered geometry, and increased longitudinal bending stiffness, to track running performance are unknown.” The researchers did speculate that “the effects of super spikes will vary based on several factors including the event (e.g., 100 m vs. 10,000 m) and the characteristics of the athlete wearing them.”³ The takeaway seems to be that super spikes will not give the same advantages to every wearer.

Reluctance Among Competitors to Credit Super Shoes

The Guardian, a daily newspaper in the UK, has noted a rash of record-breaking performances in both men’s and women’s track events. For instance, a 2021 article notes the men’s 5,000m and 10,000m world records were both broken within months of each other. The piece also points out the women’s 5,000m record was also broken that year. One example given that stands out is that of Elliot Giles, a runner who has never made a world final, breaking the record for the second-fastest indoor 800m recorded in sport’s history in a time of 1min 43:63 seconds effectively smashing the previous UK record that had been held by Seb Coe at 1min 41:73 seconds.³

Despite wearing Air Zoom Victory Spikes, which Nike advertises as capable of causing a paradigm shift, Giles was adamant that his innovative footwear was not a significant factor in his performance. In fact, he went on record stating, “Because I’ve done well, people say it must be the shoes.” Giles took this a step further declaring, “It’s nonsense and a bit of an insult.”³

Giles is not alone. Mark Scott, also from the UK, credited his beating of his 10,000m PB by 46 seconds solely to “training hard and smart for years.”³ In response to the suggestion from Tim Hutchings, a TV commentator, that Scott wearing super spikes may also have contributed to his success, Scot retorted, “Give some credit where it’s due rather than consistently nag about the shoe technology.”³

Ultimately, there remain more questions than answers.

References:

1. Davis, J. (13 April 2024). The Science of Running in Super Spikes: New Data on Nike, Adidas, and PUMA Track Shoes.
2. Healey, L. et al. (23 February 2022). Can We Quantify the Benefits of “Super Spikes” in Track Running?
3. Ingle, S. (22 February 2021). Super Spikes are Causing a Seismic Shift — So Why Don’t Athletes Admit It?

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