Do better shoes help you run faster?
Yes, but the benefits won’t last
Modern competitive running entered a new era in 2016, when Nike began distributing a prototype trainer to elite runners. The new shoes were designed to look like Nike’s top publicly available model, the Zoom Streak 6, but the soles featured a revolutionary new design. Athletes wearing the prototype shoes took home all three medals at the men’s Olympic marathon in Rio de Janeiro that year. Regular runners were able to get their hands on them in 2017 when the company unveiled the Zoom Vaporfly 4% (the figure refers to efficiency gains measured in lab tests), the first true super shoe.
Explore more
This article appeared in the Science & technology section of the print edition under the headline “Do better shoes help you run faster?”
From the March 1st 2025 edition
Discover stories from this section and more in the list of contents
Explore the edition
Satellites are polluting the stratosphere
And forthcoming mega-constellations will exacerbate the problem
AI models are dreaming up the materials of the future
Better batteries, cleaner bioplastics and more powerful semiconductors await
Mice have been genetically engineered to look like mammoths
They are small and tuskless, but extremely fluffy
Is posh moisturiser worth the money?
Don’t break the bank
How artificial intelligence can make board games better
It can iron out glitches in the rules before they go on the market
The skyrocketing demand for minerals will require new technologies
Flexible drills, distributed power systems and, of course, artificial intelligence