The Olympic Trials and the first 3 super-elite marathons of 2020 show one thing: shoes really matter and have created an uneven playing field in the sport.

Kipp, who worked on the study that gave the Vaporflys their 4% name, is pleased by the new regulations as she thinks within a year or two athletes will have a level playing field. In the meantime, she says some brands need to let their athletes run in the Nike Vaporfly "or they are going to be at a disadvantage." She also talks about what it was like to realize in 2016 that Nike had a shoe that was so much better than anyone else that she and her fellow researchers nicknamed it "The Magic." And how she believes the shoes cost Kara Goucher an Olympic spot.

What happened in the 2016 Olympic marathons where several athletes including Eliud Kipchoge and American stars Galen Rupp and Shalane Flanagan were given secret shoes, made to look like other shoes on the market, that scientists believe produce 2% gains in performance was "mechanical doping." Will World Athletics acknowledge this fact and potentially invalidate the 2016 Rio Olympic men's marathon results?

Des Linden is free to speak her mind and she didn't hold back when discussing her future, Rio 2016, and the new shoe wars.