8 years ago, Nike's super shoes made a mockery of the Olympic marathon. Will history repeat itself with On & Hellen Obiri in 24?

On has definitely been more innovative than any other brand (besides maybe adidas) with their track spikes and the cloudboom echo 3. Meanwhile, Nike has been rather stagnant and while the alphafly 3 has seen small improvements from the original, On has had explosive advancements in the super shoe game. The echo 3 was basically On's version of the vaporfly and a newer supershoe with a much lighter upper will definitely give Obiri the edge over Nike athletes.

Too bad, so sad for the others if the shoe is actually that good, it's called capitalism.

"Build a better mousetrap, and the world will beat a path to your door...” __Ralph Waldo Emerson

Unless we are goin to change the rules so that everyone has to run in the same shoe, some will have better than others. It's called life.

Only two things really matter with the shoe:

1) What is the energy return of the foam

2) What is the vertical displacement of the foam under load

On's shoe will not be the same gamechanger that the Vaporfly was because both 1 and 2 face hard caps. The OG vaporfly already had 87% energy return compared to 65% for the Nike Streak, and obviously that number cannot exceed 100%. Precision steel springs top out at 98% or so; it's hard to believe that other brands haven't already improved on the original vaporfly foam from nearly a decade ago

When it comes to deformation, the WA cap on stack height puts some practical limits on how much the shoe can deform - you absolutely do not want to bottom out the foam, and you only have so much vertical space to work with. So again, vastly diminished returns compared to older racing flats. The Streak 6 had only 16 mm of foam in the forefoot (6 mm deformation); the OG Vaporfly 4% had 21mm and deformed 12 mm. You ain't doubling that again and staying under the WA stack height limit.

Lighter weight is nice, but as of two years ago the Alphafly was both the heaviest and most performant super shoe on the market. Foam and deformation can easily beat out a lighter shoe.

Since swimming can hand out four sets of medal for ways of traversing the water it's about time running did the same, I want to see running diversified into at least:

A) Barefot

B) Traditional flats

C) Carbon plated

D) One material chunk shoes

You’re on to something, or you’re on something, but how about this? You can dope to your heart’s content, but then you run the Olympic marathon in army boots or barefoot or something not so great. If you do not dope, you can wear the super shoes of your choice.

what about the toxic materials of the carbon fiber plate. to make carbon fiber, some of the most toxic materials are used. no one ever talks about that. is that kind of like nike's zoom fly that uses zoom x scraps surrounding the carbon fiber plate then claiming, "look at us, were recycling midsole scraps and saving the planet with less impact". i guess these companies just burry the chemicals somewhere. next to the toxic waste created by the thousands of carbon fiber bike frames.

honestly it is a shame that this is not a technique that was open to the community, I feel like there is an entire space of designs that could be tested, and the whole process is so quick. I wonder how long before a competitor uses something similar

It seems like the innovation is more in manufacturing than the actual effect of the shoe on running. No doubt it's a fast shoe but there's a lot of marketing quotes in there.

“When you trust the shoes, you have that mentality, like, ‘I’m going to run fast,’” she said.
That's Obiri. That's a normal quote. Everyone says that about their Asics or whatever.

Also, said Ilmarin Heitz, On’s senior director of innovation, “the psychological advantage of knowing ‘I have something no one else has’ is an amazing feeling at the starting line of very, very important races.”
That's something a pro athlete would never say out loud. That's like saying you're cheating and feel amazing about it.

So Obiri won in 2023 against a tough competition without this innovative shoe. She won again in 2024 against a slightly lesser competition wearing this new prototype shoe. Great, now we know that Hellen Obiri is a good runner with or without shoelaces.

However, these modern shoes are mostly about the midsole. No new innovations here. A cool marketing campaign does not result in superior performance.

That’s something Craig Mottram said in the Nike documentary made about him.

JFC, Rojo.

Go outside, go for a run, go read a book. Do something besides perseverating over shoes and trans athletes

Adidas?? Adidas barely even has a true super spike

On is still behind nike and their new shoe is only finally reaching the level other shoe companies were at 2ish years ago. The echo 3's foam was nothing like the vaporfly and more like a 5k-half road spike than anything. The next shoe is supposed to be an advancement because it is light yet is comparable to the meta speed sky/edge from asics and nikes own alphafly, and is far behind the shoe built purely for weight, the evo 1. They are mores a lifestyle brand that is fi ally moving into performance running, yet they still have a lot to do to catch up.

This ON shoe still weighs more than the Adidas shoe. And is anyone suggesting that Obiri is actually a medal threat in Paris? Asseffa's bad day is better than Obiri's best day.

Obiri is most definitely a medal threat. The Olympic Marathon will not be a rabbited time trial. It will be a hot grinder.

What happens if Obiri gets dusted, does that mean the shoes aren't good? Her best marathon is 2:21, her best marathon on a record eligible course is 2:25. If they are on an honest pace from the gun can she hang with all the sub 2:20 women? I think this is a legitimate question.

Based on the description of the manufacturing, it seems like in order to get a decent fit, the shoes have to be custom made for each individual's foot. Will this cause the cost to skyrocket? Also, they are pretty ugly.

It looks like On is really into DEI!