{"id":341234,"date":"2023-10-24T01:31:44","date_gmt":"2023-10-24T01:31:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=341234"},"modified":"2023-10-24T02:01:10","modified_gmt":"2023-10-24T02:01:10","slug":"an-obsession-icons-defence-of-sexy-super-shoes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=341234","title":{"rendered":"'An obsession': Icon's defence of 'sexy' super shoes"},"content":{"rendered":"

Australian distance-running legend Steve Moneghetti<\/a> has put forward a passionate defence of "super shoes" after Sunday's lightning-quick Valencia Half Marathon, insisting athletics is "catching up" to other sports and pointing out the technology is making recreational runners "feel sexy".<\/p>\n

The four-time Olympian also says he isn't fazed by the super shoe era giving the modern generation an advantage, leading to the pre-super shoe record books being destroyed.<\/p>\n

While Ugandan youngster Jacob Kiplimo's half-marathon world record of 57:31 wasn't broken in Valencia on Sunday, four runners cracked 58 minutes.<\/p>\n

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The first man home, Kenya's\ufeff Kibiwott Kandie, was wearing the Adidas Adizero Adios Pro 3 as he clocked 57:40, and the three others were sporting super shoes designed by Adidas or Nike.<\/p>\n

Super shoes pack in a huge amount of springy foam and a rigid structure, usually made of carbon fibre, to produce a trampoline-like effect.\ufeff Nike released the first super shoe in 2016 and there now isn't a major athletic shoe company that doesn't have a version of its own.<\/p>\n

\"Kenya's<\/p>\n

Australian middle-distance champion Tamsyn Manou called for World Athletics to "re-open an investigation" into super shoes in an interview with Wide World of Sports in September<\/a>, while Pat Carroll, a former elite Australian marathon runner, raised concern with this publication about super shoes giving today's runners an edge over previous generations.<\/p>\n

Moneghetti, who's been sponsored by Nike since 1986, races in the multibillion-dollar company's Vaporfly super shoe and tests super shoes for the commercial giant.<\/p>\n

The 61-year-old spoke of the boom of technology in golf and cycling as he defended super shoes.<\/p>\n

"Golf was the one where everyone would be spending all your money, your disposable income on having the super driver, the Big Bertha, [introduced by Callaway in 1991]," Moneghetti said in an interview with Wide World of Sports.<\/p>\n

"Then it went to cycling; the frames were carbon fibre. Then that translates, so the elites would do it and then that'd translate down to your cyclists and weekend warriors and people riding for recreation.<\/p>\n

"I reckon running is the new cycling, which was the new golf, so we're in that sort of golden era now."<\/p>\n

\"Jon<\/p>\n

The Nike Vaporfly and Alphafly are the most popular super shoes among recreational runners, but Adidas' recent success at the top level, headlined by Ethiopian Tigst Assefa's world-record demolition in September's Berlin Marathon<\/a>, has sparked a surge in Adidas sales.<\/p>\n

Asics, New Balance, Puma, Mizuno, Saucony, On, Under Armour and Hoka are among the many companies fighting the super shoe battle.<\/p>\n

"You're seeing people introduced to that technology that's allowing them to feel sexy in the sport, look better, run faster, and we've all got these technology advantages now that just make you enjoy the experience a lot more," Moneghetti added.<\/p>\n

"We can measure; we've got Garmin watches that are measuring what your heart rate is and your pace.<\/p>\n

"So we've got all these stats and technology now that mean you can really delve into it. It's become a lifestyle for a lot of people, maybe even an obsession, I might say."\ufeff<\/p>\n

The men's marathon world record was 2:02:57 before the super shoe era took off, but it's since dropped to 2:00:35 \u2014 the scorching time run by Kenya's Kelvin Kiptum in the Chicago Marathon a fortnight ago<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The women's marathon world record was 2:17:42 before super shoes shook up athletics, but it's now 2:11:53 after the mind-spinning run in Berlin by Assefa, who chopped off two minutes and 11 seconds.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

On the same day in December 2022, Brett Robinson posted 2:07:31 in the Fukuoka Marathon to break the Australian men's record set by Robert de Castella in 1986, and Sinead Diver stopped the clock at 2:21:34 to shatter Benita Willis' Australian women's record set in 2006.<\/p>\n

"I don't get caught up in comparing eras at all," said Moneghetti, who set his marathon personal best of 2:08:16 in winning the 1990 Berlin Marathon.<\/p>\n

"When I won the Berlin Marathon it was the fastest time in the world that year and I was the 16th-fastest person in history. Now, what I do is I actually transpose that to now, so I would have the fastest time in 2023 and I would be the 16th-fastest person in history.<\/p>\n

"I ran for the era. That's what I did in my era, so if it was the era now that's what I'd have to be. So I don't ever get caught up in that. I just know that at the time that was where I stood in the pecking order and I would be the same in the pecking order now, as would Pat Carroll.<\/p>\n

"I'm just delighted that we have seen improvements. We've seen the Australian records broken in the last 12 months … by Sinead and Robbo [Robinson]. That's great for our sport. I was worried [and thinking], 'How long will Deek's [de Castella's] record stand? How long is Benita's record going to stand? Why isn't distance running in Australia improving?'. We've seen that real surge now over the last couple of years and it's fantastic for our sport."<\/p>\n

\"Steve<\/p>\n

As per World Athletics' regulations, shoes used in running or walking events on the road mustn't have a sole thickness greater than 40 millimetres.<\/p>\n

The limit on track events ranging from 800 metres and above is 25 millimetres, while 20 millimetres is the limit for all shorter events.<\/p>\n

Tighter restrictions will come into effect on November 1, 2024, with 20 millimetres becoming the limit for all track distances.<\/p>\n

Another regulation states that a shoe can only have more than one rigid structure if it's located in one plane or, in the case of spikes,\ufeff it's used to attach spikes to the outer underside of the shoe.<\/p>\n

\"Tigst<\/p>\n

Moneghetti predicts that Nike's super shoes make him three seconds faster per kilometre and says he probably would have run 2:05 if super shoes were around in his peak years.<\/p>\n

"I can tell you, I weigh my shoes as soon as I get them, and the first pair of Alphafl\ufeffys I got were heavier than my training shoes, and I said, 'Well, how am I going to run fast in those?', and they said, 'Just wear them', and I did," Moneghetti said.<\/p>\n

"I was in 33:30 shape for 10 kilometres, I was about 56 at the time, I ran 32:45, I could not run 32:45 [without super shoes]. Guaranteed.<\/p>\n

"So whatever was on my feet \u2014 they projected me to that time and I've been a strong advocate ever since.<\/p>\n

"It's still humans that are lacing them up.<\/p>\n

"At the end of the day it comes down to your human capacity, as well.<\/p>\n

"\ufeffObviously distance running is just booming at the moment. If it's because of the super shoes or because of the faster times and people are being introduced to distance running, then that's a good outcome."<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Australian distance-running legend Steve Moneghetti has put forward a passionate defence of "super shoes" after Sunday's lightning-quick Valencia Half Marathon, insisting athletics is "catching up" […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":341236,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/341234"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=341234"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/341234\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":341241,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/341234\/revisions\/341241"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/341236"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=341234"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=341234"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=341234"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}