{"id":345181,"date":"2023-11-09T21:14:33","date_gmt":"2023-11-09T22:14:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=345181"},"modified":"2023-11-10T00:01:51","modified_gmt":"2023-11-10T00:01:51","slug":"klims-advice-to-athletics-amid-super-shoe-explosion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=345181","title":{"rendered":"Klim's advice to athletics amid 'super shoe' explosion"},"content":{"rendered":"

Australian swimming<\/a> great Michael Klim<\/a>\ufeff believes sports must learn to embrace technology to avoid other advances in equipment being completely rubbed out.<\/p>\n

A\ufeffs athletics<\/a> records continue to tumble \u2014 linked to the use of cutting-edge "super shoes"<\/a> \u2014 one can't help but draw a parallel with the controversial high-tech swimsuits<\/a> that rocked international swimming more than a decade ago.<\/p>\n

Speedo's LZR Racer suit was unveiled in 2008, preceding an astonishing 255 world records being posted before the technology was banned in 2010.<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Aussies fear Maxwell 'risk' after marathon knock<\/strong><\/a>\ufeff<\/strong><\/p>\n

READ MORE: \ufeff<\/strong>'Oblivious' bosses handing 'rabble' to new coach<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

READ MORE: \ufeff<\/strong>Black Caps edge towards semis as rival's woes continue<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

Critics of the suits labelled their use "technological doping", and many "super suit-assisted" world records still stand including in the men's 50m, 200m, 400m and 800m freestyle events, and do not look like being broken for a long time.<\/p>\n

Now, with the explosion in the \ufeffmultibillion-dollar running shoe industry, there are fears that \ufeffathletics' "super shoe" era could set the sport on a similar collision course.<\/p>\n

All "super shoes" have a large amount of springy foam and a rigid structure, usually made of carbon, that work together to propel an athlete forward more efficiently.\ufeff<\/p>\n

Before the first "super shoe" was released by Nike in 2016, \ufeffthe men's marathon world record stood at 2:02:57. It has since dropped to 2:00:35 following an unparalleled performance by 23-year-old Kenyan Kelvin Kiptum at the Chicago Marathon<\/a> last month \u2014 in Nike Dev 163 prototype shoes.<\/p>\n

It's a similar story with the women. \ufeffThe long-standing women's marathon world record of 2:15:25, set in 2003, now sits at 2:11:53 after Ethiopian Tigst Assefa's mind-blowing run in the Berlin Marathon in September<\/a> \u2014 in a pair of Adidas' Adizero Adios Pro Evo 1.<\/p>\n

Despite \ufeffthe rapid erosion of record times and growing concern for the purity of running, Klim, who retired from professional swimming in 2007, argued there was space for technological innovations to exist alongside peak athletic performance.<\/p>\n

\"Tigst<\/p>\n

"I think that technology should be embraced in sport, as long as it's managed properly by the appropriate governing body," he told Wide World of Sports.<\/p>\n

"\ufeffIt's not [about] allowing technology to influence sport, I think it's restricting [its influence].<\/p>\n

"You look at \ufeffgolf, tennis and sailing \u2014 all these sports where technology is used.<\/p>\n

"\ufeffI think the technology should be implemented at its own development."<\/p>\n

With \ufeffthe "super suits" outlawed in competition, Klim did not want to see another development completely disposed of.<\/p>\n

The triple Olympian and two-time gold medallist also declared himself a "big fan" of reintroducing elements of water-repelling fabrics and full-body fits into swimming.<\/p>\n

\"Michael<\/p>\n

"Unfortunately, FINA [now World Aquatics] had \ufeffto go back to almost the basics because of the free scope that was had with the suits. There weren't enough guidelines [around them," he said.<\/p>\n

"But hopefully \ufeffover time, we can start bringing technology back into the sport of swimming.<\/p>\n

"Previously, the testing was very loose, which enabled so many brands to go crazy, but I think if there are very strict guidelines with what is allowed, and then maybe a progression over time, I think it should be all systems go.<\/p>\n

"\ufeffFor men, predominantly it's the coverage, how much of your body is allowed to be covered with a fabric that is faster than skin. So I think increasing that to a degree.\ufeff<\/p>\n

"\ufeffThen there is also how much you're going to allow a suit to change your body composition. Suits generally make you more taut, more stiff and it changes your posture in the water. So, there could be guidelines in terms of the coatings, the stiffness of fabrics and to what level."<\/p>\n

Ahead of the Tokyo Olympics, \ufeffWorld Athletics announced new regulations on footwear in competition.<\/p>\n

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

Unlike the \ufeffcold turkey approach of FINA, the governing body tightened its guidelines from "\ufeffshoes must not be constructed to give athletes any unfair assistance or advantage" to several clear-cut rules regarding sole thickness and rigidness.<\/p>\n

Harder restrictions will again come into effect on November 1 next year, with sole thickness capped at 20 millimetres for all track distances, down from 25 millimetres for all distances 800 metres and above.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Australian swimming great Michael Klim\ufeff believes sports must learn to embrace technology to avoid other advances in equipment being completely rubbed out. A\ufeffs athletics records […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":345183,"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\/345181"}],"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=345181"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/345181\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":345188,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/345181\/revisions\/345188"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/345183"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=345181"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=345181"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=345181"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}