Non-Nike Athletes May Be F**ked - Nike WILL Release Alphaflys and they WILL BE LEGAL for 2020 Tokyo

Ultra > Marathon wrote:

Have Kofuzi or Jamison Michael made a review yet?!

Mary Beth was last seen hopping of a bridge and Kofuzi heart stopped due to the ease the Alphafly made him run a 4min mile

JustRunBaby wrote:

LoneStarXC wrote:

Technically yes. But, logistically, no. If an athlete is offered a, for example, $40,000/yr contract from company A, $15,000/yr from company B, and nothing from Nike, they are going to go with company A. Any other decision would be very dumb, from a financial point of view. So, yes, in a literal sense they are “choosing” to be sponsored by company A, but, at the same time, but their decision is going to be based off of what makes financial sense, rather than actually preferring to race in company A’s shoes. It’s not like any athlete can be sponsored by Nike just because they want to be.

So what's the issue? I have no sympathy for someone who gets 40K a year to run with inferior shoes. They chose the money over the best shoes, and they got it.

Exactly right. The competitive aspect of this sport is as much about lifestyle choices as it is race-day performance. Taking a higher paying sponsorship with inferior shoes is a trade off -- more running money means more time to train. But on race day, those athletes will have to wear the shoes made by the company that pays them. And sometimes, those shoes will be inferior to what the competition is wearing.

The other option here isn't just being sponsored by Nike (which is admittedly very rare) -- it's deciding to work a different job so you're free to race in the best shoes, regardless of brand. If I were getting upwards of $15k a year from a company in sponsorship, I'd likely take that option, as it would allow me to invest more time into my training. But I'd also be aware that on race day, I might be at a slight disadvantage to the runners who chose a different path. That's not unfair -- it's the reality of a choice I made to better my running career. I had the option to make a different choice, but I didn't make it.

How do you stabilize these air pockets without some sort of rigid plate beneath them? It seems to me that some sort of rigid plate would be needed. Not necessarily carbon fiber.

UA Runner wrote:

wow wow wrote:

How can you pretend like there will an Even Playing Field?

Not just that, but man, I can't keep up. I am still burning through my original Vaporflys and have a new pair of Flyknit vaporflys to use, and then I was planning on some Next% this summer. And now this?

That said, it makes me wonder how Nike can produce several versions of this shoe in several years, yet other companies can't even get one product out. If this AlphaFly is better than the Next%.. Saucony engineers have to just feel defeated.

Nike will dominate at the 2020 Olympic Games due to technology.

and not because of athletic ability!

Idea: adidas, Brooks, hoka , etc combine to make a non Nike shoe winner prize purze

I’m starting to think that “JustRunBaby” is actually Camille Herron... based on her recent tweets about the “free market” and “no one missing out”. https://mobile.twitter.com/runcamille/status/1225440407057817601

Replying to

@Run_lenny

@pwerhane

and

@GlenCottingley

No one is missing out. It’s a free market for other companies to innovate within the rules, and many are debuting their shoes at the Trials. Also, reports are that Kipchoge’s shoes were legal. It just wasn’t a record legal event.

9:25 AM · Feb 6, 2020

not sure wrote:

Any chance the airbags wouldn't be legal under this part of the WA ruling?:

"Where World Athletics has reason to believe that a type of shoe or specific technology may not be compliant with the rules or the spirit of the rules, it may submit the shoe or technology for study and may prohibit the use of the shoe or technology while it is under examination."

Wishful thinking, maybe.

You want to ban the nike air bubble? Wow the shoe banning mob has really jumped the shark. If nike sold shoes with flames painted on the sides some squid from letsrun would want flames banned too.

LoneStarXC wrote:

I’m starting to think that “JustRunBaby” is actually Camille Herron... based on her recent tweets about the “free market” and “no one missing out”.

https://mobile.twitter.com/runcamille/status/1225440407057817601

Replying to

@Run_lenny

@pwerhane

and

@GlenCottingley

No one is missing out. It’s a free market for other companies to innovate within the rules, and many are debuting their shoes at the Trials. Also, reports are that Kipchoge’s shoes were legal. It just wasn’t a record legal event.

9:25 AM · Feb 6, 2020

the only people missing out might be those without a proper internet connection. anyone else can buy the shoes online.

Coloradoran wrote:

How do you stabilize these air pockets without some sort of rigid plate beneath them? It seems to me that some sort of rigid plate would be needed. Not necessarily carbon fiber.

hard plastic?????

HobbyBoy wrote:

People said that professional runners were against the "spirit of the olympic games" also. If the current system of pro runners being bound to wear their sponsor company's shoes didn't exist, then everyone would wear the "best" shoes. Nike has BILLIONS of dollars and clearly are leveraging that to dominate the running shoe world.

The Olympics are not some virginally pure expression of athletics. If a person wants to compete in today's Olympics, they have to dedicate their waking life to their sport. This is enabled by sponsors who PAY them to be advertisers of their products. If a runner disagrees, then they can forgo sponsorship dollars, figure out how to survive and train "like a pro" and pay $300 or more for these awful looking shoes.

The Olympics is, and will continue to be, a worldwide stage for companies to advertise.

This guy gets it.

LoneStarXC wrote:

I’m starting to think that “JustRunBaby” is actually Camille Herron... based on her recent tweets about the “free market” and “no one missing out”.

Camille Herron posts here as jaguar1, not me.

Just because she is also correct does not mean that I am she.

Some people love to point to pro cycling as a sport that limits the technology, but it really doesn't. It just's sets a limit on the bicycle weight mostly. The fact is bicycle technology is about 50 times more complicated and diverse than shoe technology ever was, and yet pro cycling is alive and well, expanding into new events like gravel racing.

Anyone who can afford about $21k can buy a copy of Chris Froome's Pinarello Dogma setup, but that's just one bike. That doesn't include the time trial bike, which is a better comparison to a racing shoe. And you can't buy his time trial bike -- they are unique, and they are changed every year, as are the $3k wheelsets, etc.

Nobody in pro cycling whines about technology, unless the technology doesn't work well. The best riders win because they had the best fitness, strategy, and luck on a given day. The technology in cycling is constantly changing, constantly being tested, and utilized by the many teams. I hate Nike, but I like the fact that they are moving the sport forward after decades of stagnation.

Sounds like competitors need to step up their R&D game.

Them shoes are ugly af like most Nike shoes. I'd take my L wearing something much better looking and gotta more comfortable them those bent up things

Complete destruction of the sport. Allowing litteral springs on the shoes means this isn’t running anymore. The best runner will no longer be the best runner, but the best vaporfly responder. Also know some runners who used the nike prototype in Doha last year and they said it felt unreal. WA is bought by Nike, allowing this to happen is insane.

DC Wonk wrote:

Nobody in pro cycling whines about technology, unless the technology doesn't work well. The best riders win because they had the best fitness, strategy, and luck on a given day.

But there are studies that support the argument that this is not the case in distance running.

Wwertsap wrote:

Complete destruction of the sport. Allowing litteral springs on the shoes means this isn’t running anymore. The best runner will no longer be the best runner, but the best vaporfly responder. Also know some runners who used the nike prototype in Doha last year and they said it felt unreal. WA is bought by Nike, allowing this to happen is insane.

Who gives a crap? I don't wear Nike, have no interest to and don't care at all about this. The shoes don't put in the work, I do. Some motherf*cker beats me only because of some shoes, good job by you. Kipchoge is not beating me only because of the shoes he is wearing I will tell you that. He has worked harder and has more talent for running than I ever will, if he feels best wearing some AlphaFlys or whatever great for him.

track degen wrote:

DC Wonk wrote:

Nobody in pro cycling whines about technology, unless the technology doesn't work well. The best riders win because they had the best fitness, strategy, and luck on a given day.

But there are studies that support the argument that this is not the case in distance running.

Those studies are all significantly flawed with large amounts of error.

I say this as someone who despises Nike and will never wear those shoes.

Where you present when God was handing out brains?