New Technology and Performance: The Impact of Running Shoes on Marathon Records

In one month, both the men’s and women’s marathon world records were broken. And if you look at the fastest times, the entire top 5 for men and women have been running since 2018.

And that is not without reason, says former marathon runner and current running coach Michel Butter. “Since then, the development of the running shoe has gone very quickly. That has meant that we have really started running faster and that ultimately saves minutes.”

Run better and faster

Almost all professional runners nowadays use running shoes that contain a carbon plate and a foam layer. Also our Dutch marathon champion Sifan Hassan. Butter: “The bottom provides much better absorption of the shocks that your tendons, muscles and joints absorb with every step. This means you can last longer and also recover faster.”

Last month, the Ethiopian Tigist Assefa smashed the world record during the marathon in Berlin, with her 2.11.53 she was more than two minutes faster than the previous world record. She ran her race in a new shoe from Adidas. Price tag: about 500 euros. And according to Adidas, you can only use the shoe for one marathon. After that, the maximum benefit from the shoe is largely gone.

“It’s hard to say whether her success was really due to that shoe,” Butter says. “I think all the conditions were right. Good weather conditions, the course, a super fit athlete and of course the right shoe. But we should certainly not just blame it on the shoe, her performance was of course very good.”

New technology

Gert-Jan Wassink agrees with this. Wassink, like Butter, was a professional runner and is currently also active as a coach. “Beautiful, those fast times. What achievements! We are really in a new era in the sport,” says Wassink enthusiastically. “That shoe that Assefa wore has a new technology,” he says.

“Look, a good running shoe must at least be resilient. Nowadays they are increasingly resilient with such a carbon and foam layer. But the weight is also important, it should not be too heavy. You don’t want a lot of weight. fits around your foot. And also important: you also want it to fit comfortably. The comfort must also be good.”

That has also improved considerably in recent years, says Wassink. “I can still remember the times when Michel and I ran marathons and afterwards our feet were completely destroyed. Full of blisters. With today’s shoes, that no longer has to be the case.”

But at the same time, according to both Wassink and Butter, we should not expect miracles from running shoes. “It is not that if you always walked an average of 10 kilometers per hour, you now suddenly go 15 kilometers per hour with the latest shoes,” says Wassink.

Butter also says that this shoe can have a different effect on the professional runner than on the amateur runner. “Many techniques are really made for professionals, for people who reach high speeds above 15 kilometers per hour. If you run a little slower, the benefit you get from it is really less. In addition, everyone has a different running style and can It also makes a difference how much you get out of it.”

“As an amateur runner you will definitely be able to feel that a shoe like the one Assefa wore, for example, is different. But does it really make you faster and whether you benefit from it? That is not easy to say.”

Weather conditions

This also applies to the marathon next Sunday. Both former runners do not dare to make a prediction immediately, although Wassink does have high hopes for a course record. “We succeeded in Eindhoven and in Chicago. If the weather conditions are good, it should also be possible in Amsterdam. Although we are always very dependent on that in Amsterdam.”

“If the wind is not right, the last part always becomes very difficult,” Butter also knows. “But if the wind is right, and according to the current weather forecasts it is, that can always help you a lot in the final stretch.”

2023-10-13 05:22:34
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