This is not exactly correct. As a coach, I have recently reviewed the rules. It starts 20mm for running events less than and not including the 800m. Events 800m and longer are 25mm, so example OnCloud's spikes are legal.
You might have missed this:
“The simplification on sole thicknesses across all athletic shoes in track and field events to a stack height of 20mm from 1 November 2024. This timeline was agreed to give manufacturers sufficient notice following the significant investment they will have made into spike shoes with a sole thickness between 20 and 25mm. The current sole thicknesses will continue until then.”
This is not exactly correct. As a coach, I have recently reviewed the rules. It starts 20mm for running events less than and not including the 800m. Events 800m and longer are 25mm, so example OnCloud's spikes are legal.
This line from the NCAA rules is what matters:
Any type of shoe must be reasonably available and listed on the World Athletics approved list.
If the shoe is no longer listed, it's not legal. That said, the NCAA should not have included the following bit that you referenced about the 800m and above allowing up to 25mm. It makes no sense for it to be there since the rule book is for 2025-2026 and there were years of advance notice of the WA rules going into effect on November 1, 2024. I think that has probably contributed to some of the confusion unfortunately.
The NCAA decided to line up with World Athletics. There is a list of legal shoes...all spikes. Coaches and athletes know this. Maybe Multis don't (I have seen some multi competitions where runners were in trainers for the 800/1000 but they were not super shoes and no one cared in that setting), but any distance runner does.
Rice and North Texas both had athletes in legal footwear. Coaches won't always micro manage athletes, especially at a school like UNT or Rice where there is only one distance coach for the whole event group.
My guess is the athletes knew the rule, and thought they could get away with it. The super flats are faster, but the big advantage is how they save the legs for the 3k the next day.
This is not exactly correct. As a coach, I have recently reviewed the rules. It starts 20mm for running events less than and not including the 800m. Events 800m and longer are 25mm, so example OnCloud's spikes are legal.
This line from the NCAA rules is what matters:
Any type of shoe must be reasonably available and listed on the World Athletics approved list.
If the shoe is no longer listed, it's not legal. That said, the NCAA should not have included the following bit that you referenced about the 800m and above allowing up to 25mm. It makes no sense for it to be there since the rule book is for 2025-2026 and there were years of advance notice of the WA rules going into effect on November 1, 2024. I think that has probably contributed to some of the confusion unfortunately.
What is “reasonably available”? The shoes should have never been legal in the first place. Now the ncaa/usatf/iaaf is running around doing damage control. Too late. It’s like if the MLB stated allowing corked bats and then, 5 years later, started regulating the type of cork a player could use.
As of 18 February the rules changed in the NCAA from 25mm to 20mm. Originally it was intended that 25mm would run through the 2025/26 competition. They decided to silently change that though. Very annoying as myself and teammates had purchased spikes over the limit.
At least one DQ’d athletes (from Rice) from the AAC championship were wearing On Cloudspikes outside of the 20mm limit as indicated by Strava