The New Era for Running Shoes Technology!
The controversy behind the Vapor Fly
This is the first verison of the Vaper Fly 4%, which was first introduced by Nike to Break 2-hours in the marathon.
The Olympic games have been viewed as the biggest possible stage for all athletes ever since they were founded in 1896. Unfortunately, nowadays they are at risk of losing their reputation due to a shoe scandal.
At the beginning of 2017, Nike introduced a project called The Breaking 2 Project, which is an attempt to dip under the 2-hour barrier in the marathon for the first time. To do that they had to reinvent shoes. They made the Vapor fly’s 4%, a shoe that’s scientifically proven to save 4% of a runner’s energy during a marathon. This can make a massive difference. During the Breaking 2 Project, three athletes attempted to break 2, but only one came anywhere close, with only 25 seconds from breaking the barrier.
In 2019, Nike introduced a revolutionary new shoe that can go even past the 4% level, thanks to the new Zoom X Foal and a carbon plate running from the front to the back of the shoe. This new tech helps boost any runner’s performance well above 4%.
The Vapor Fly 4% sparked a lot of controversy among runners because other shoe giants in the running industry like Adidas and New Balance are having a very hard time.
Professional runners for Companies that aren’t from Nike filed a complaint to the AAF, the governing body for all professional competition on any stage, including the Olympic games. They claimed that the Vapor Fly’s are mechanical doping. They provided a huge advantage for Nike Athletes sparking debates about whether the competition is fair. The AAF started looking into their complaint, but they ruled that the Vapor Fly’s are allowed to be used in competition. During October, Eliud Kipchogy achieved the first sub-2-hour marathon. Then Nike introduced a new addition to the Vapor Fly’s called the Alpha Fly’s. This sparked massive debates and controversy, because they had a thick soul and a double carbon plate, making the them look like a normal pair of shoes.
This time, the AAF flagged them as mechanical doping. The shoes were banned from being used in competition in the Olympic games in Tokyo 2020 Olympics. They also added new regulations to what kind of features a shoe can have added. Theo Woods is one of the greatest 800 meter runners in high school history with a personal best of 1:50 in the 800 meters. Woods had spoke his opinion on the Alphafly ban by the AAF, “I think that the AAF has to draw the line somewhere in terms of how good equipment can be, with that said, I’m not 100% that the Alphafly was fair”
