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World Athletics has ruled that from November 1, the thickness of shoe soles worn by competitors for all track and field events must not exceed 20 millimeters. Will this affect the timings and performance of athletes?
For track events from 800 metres and longer, athletes can currently wear shoes with soles up to 25 mm thick. For track events shorter than 800 metres in distance, the maximum sole height is 20 millimetres. In field events, the restriction is 20mm but for the triple jump, upto 25mm sole thickness is allowed. This rule came into force from January 1, 2022. Prior to this, the maximum height allowed for track spikes was 30mm.
After November 1, the maximum thickness of the sole, irrespective of the distance of the race, will be 20mm. The same holds good for field events. This means the shoes worn by triple jumpers will have their sole height reduced by 5mm. For road events, like the marathon and race walk, the permitted sole thickness remains at 40mm as before.
World Athletics has long been trying to find the middle path between advancement in shoe technology, and athletes getting an unfair advantage. It had set up a Working Group on Athletic Shoes in 2020 to come up with rules to keep the advances in shoe technology — thickness of the sole, material used within the shoe like carbon fibre plates — in check.
In December 2021, the Working Group had announced that from November 1, 2024, the thickness of the sole of track shoes would become uniform irrespective of the event. The rule change was announced in advance to give shoe manufacturers enough time to make modifications.
Joshua Cheptegei, the Olympic and World Champion in the 10,000 metres, says the rule change is “for the benefit of the sport” but added that the latest shoe helped athletes recover faster between training sessions. “If some things were available for some people and not for others, that is bad. Many shoe companies have come on board, not only Nike but Adidas and others and it (new shoes) is a development that gives athletes more time for recovery,” Cheptegei told The Indian Express on the sidelines of the Vedanta Delhi Half Marathon.
The 28-year-old Uganda athlete also said he didn’t think that a thinner sole would result in slower times on track. “It’s about the mentality of athletes. If you believe you can break a record, it can happen. But if you think that because it is going to be lowered (thickness of the sole), you can’t run then it is not going to happen,” Cheptegei said.
Muktar Edris of Ethiopia, a former two-time 5,000m World Champion said that the height of the sole of the latest shoes does give athletes more ‘energy’ and ‘push’ .
Till January 2022, the thickness of track spikes could be up to 30mm. Just before the Tokyo Olympics, the legendary Usain Bolt had said that advances in shoe technology were putting records under threat. “I couldn’t believe that this is what we have gone to… that we are really adjusting the spikes to a level where it’s now giving athletes an advantage to run even faster,” Bolt told Reuters.
After winning the 400m hurdles gold in a world record time of 45.94 seconds in Tokyo, Karsten Warholm, who wore Puma shoes, criticised the Nike shoes worn by second-place finisher Rai Benjamin. Warholm claimed that the shoes he wore were much thinner than Benjamin’s.
“In middle distance, I can understand it because of the cushioning. If you want cushioning, you can put a mattress there. But if you put a trampoline, it takes credibility away from our sport,” Warholm had said.
When Kenya’s Eliud Kipchoge, the Rio Olympics gold medallist, broke the two-hour marathon barrier in Vienna in 2019, the thick-stacked sole of the Nike shoes he wore attracted controversy though his time didn’t enter the record books as it was not an open race and he used rotating pace- makers.
Since then, World Athletics has ruled that (from April 30, 2020) shoe companies can no longer develop cutting-edge footwear custom-made just for elite international athletes, without first releasing it in the open retail market where anyone can buy it. A new shoe must be in the market for four months before it can be used in competition.
The rules also specified that the maximum thickness for road shoes should be 40 millimetres, which remains unchanged.
The New York Times reported that the average winning time at major marathons (Boston, Tokyo, London, Berlin, Chicago, New York) in 2023 — compared to the 2013-16 average — was much faster. Four and a half minutes for women and three and a half minutes for men. The first of the supershoes were introduced in 2017.
