The nonsense of the rule regarding racing shoes not allowed on track

Renato Canova · 2020-12-14T11:03:24-05:00

World athletics persists to maintain a rule which is completely unreasonable, because there is not any factor of advantage comparing the modern spikes. For not allowing athletes running on track with racing shoes, it's clear the Working Group of Worldathletics supposed possible some advantage, running on track with shoes allowed on the road. For that reason, 3 days before his attempt against the European Record of one hour, Sondre Moen was not allowed to use the same shoes that, one month before, were legal for his European Record of 25000m on track. The reality, instead, is as follows : a) The current racing shoes give some advantage in long competitions on the road, compared with the racing shoes of some year ago. However, the advantage at top level is not consistant like the most part of people thinks : I remember a my athlete (Jonathan Maiyo) who ran 5 times under 59'30" with a bets of 59'02" in HM using a pair of Mizuno almost flat, and of sure he didn't have the talent for running 58' (so, the hypotehtical advantage could be about 20" - 25"). b) There is no way that the allowed racing shoes (today not only Nike, but every Company has some model with the carbon plate and a thickness of 35-40mm) can give some advantage if compared with the spikes of last generation (for example, the Nike Dragonfly used by Cheptegei for his WR of 5000 and 10000m). We don't need a lot of studies carried out with amateurs for certifying that, if you want to run fastest possible a competition of 5000m / 10000m, you need to use spikes : it's enough to look at the results of WCh in Doha last year, when everybody (with the only exception of Sondre Moen) used spikes, and the medals went to athletes knowing very well the racing shoes : Cheptegei, gold medal, used Vaporfly during his WR of 15 km on the road, Kejelcha used Vaporfly in Copenhagen HM, and Rhonex Kipruto used Adidas (illegal for track with the new rule, but legal last year) in his WR of 10 km. Since in 2019 everybody was free to chose the best shoes for himself, without limitations of sole, if all the best choose spikes it means that everybody well knew spikes can give advantage, compared with racing shoes. c) Somebody can ask : if with spikes we can have advantage, why Sondre Moen used racing shoes ? The answer is not in the idea to improve the personal performance : road runners never use spikes, their running technique is built with racing shoes, the position of the body is different using spikes or racing shoes, the load on the Achille's tendon is higher with spikes. One thing is to use normally spikes in training (like track specialists do), other thing is to force road runners who want to compete, maybe 2-3 times per season, on track, to use spikes without specific preparation, risking injuries for nothing. d) What happens in many 10000m in US and in Japan this year is that road runners tried track competitions for the lack of road races, using their NORMAL shoes. Really, I don't understand this rule. Specialists on track NEVER have the idea to use racing shoes on track, well knowing they can only run slower. So, WHICH IS THE REASON OF A RULE THAT DOESN'T ALLOW ATHLETES TO USE SHOES THAT MAKE THEM SLOWER, BUT SAVE THEIR LEGS ? And, about the long distances on track : competitions like one hour, or longer, are for athletes specialists of the distance, not for athlete specialists of the track. Track is not a specialisation, IS A PLACE WHERE THE ATHLETES RUN. Track runners was Bolt for 100m, El Guerrouj for 1500m, Warholm for 400 hs, with total different events, so can't be consider an important COMMON DENOMINATOR in athletics. Instead, the common denominator is the DISTANCE. Athletes running one hour on track are the same running HM on the road, and there is no reason because can't use, ALL OF THEM, the normal shoes they use in their competition and in their training. It's clear that the Scientific component of the Working group for shoes didn't have a correct vision about the problem, but now is time to cancel the absurd of a rule that doesn't have any common sense, and to allow ALL THE ATHLETES to run on track with every type of shoes, legally accepted. The only limitations must be : Spikes : thickness no higher than 25mm (or 20mm, depending on the distance). Racing : thickness no higher than 40mm (allowed for every distance, including 100m, if one wants...) I ask all the athletes (road runners) and the coaches, who well know that absurd rule, to intervene and to ask Worldathletics the cancellation, putting again everything in the most simple way (especially now that also prototypes can be accepted on track, with advantages well superior compared with racing shoes).

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5 years ago 12/19/2020 1:09pm EST

re: CO Coach

NOW athletes who want to run on track with shoes having thickness higher than 25mm can do it, also if their performance can't be validated, if is a record. But this is the last update of the rule : in August, when WA communicated "with immediate effect" the rule, the athletes WERE NOT ALLOWED TO RUN. There were judges controlling the athlete's shoes before the start, and this happened with 3 days only of notice.

You say that the rule is not confusing : what about National Championships where the winner, without any record, becomes Champion wearing shoes with 40mm of thickness, and is officially recognized as National Champion (Portuguese Championships 10000m) ?

And, please, don't compare the One Hour record, that has an important history with many top Champions in the Golden Roll (from Paavo Nurmi to Ron Clarke to Haile Gebrselassie) with some joke like the Beer Mile, or the use of Kangaroo shoes, or the record of HM wearing a smoking.

The fact there were not competition on One Hour during the last 20 years depends on the continue increase of the number of HM on the road, but before 2000 the distance of One Hour was frequently run, also in some classic meeting.

5 years ago 12/19/2020 1:37pm EST

re: Renato Canova

Salomé rocha has been disqualified for wearing vaporfly "

5 years ago 12/19/2020 2:20pm EST

re: Renato Canova

If you are looking for competence (or integrity) in World Athletics, you are going to be hard pressed to find some. The previous president is in jail for corruption. The current president has had a long standing conflict of interest with Nike. It's no surprise that their attempt to put the super-shoe genie back in the bottle has been ham-handed at best. The only surprise here Renato is that you're surprised by how this is being handled.

5 years ago 12/19/2020 8:44pm EST

re: Renato Canova

Hi Renato:

Have you seen these shoes? What do you think of them?

http://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/13982524

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