#210

If only Lynsey Sharp had been around in those days - she’d have managed to get rid of her.

#211

Ach, they were in last place anyway and weren’t expected to do anything. I feel sorry for the anchor leg though, he didn’t get a chance to get involved.

#212

Kipchoge then. 1:59.40 marathon. Amazing scenes

3 Likes
#213

Eliat Kipcugat

2 Likes
#214

Eliud and the pacesetters

1 Like
#215

Those shoes though. It’s equivalent to a 2:06 in plimsolls.

#216

You joke, but there is some big talk amongst sports scientists about this

#217

How big we talking here?

#218

Like massive

#219

It’s pretty interesting

#220
#221

Word is a pair of custom Nike shoes could be worth as much as 6% efficiency gain over the next best pair. They’re not even available to all Nike contract athletes, let alone anyone else, so they’ve not been validated beyond the rumour mill though.

#222

Absolutely blown my mind that a pair of trainers can make you that much faster though unless they’re really springy or something

#223

Yeah wtf

#224

6% gain over two hours would be 432 seconds - over 7 minutes!

Don’t believe the hype

Or rather, believe the hype - the shoes clearly work - but 6% seems unlikely

#225

Nike give 4% increase in performance for the VaporFlys. Some sports scientists give around a 3% increase. Which, in a marathon, is huge.

Search out Ross Tucker for lengthy Twitter threads

#226

Not necessarily the same thing tbf. See the graph below which suggests a 6% efficiency gain would equate to a roughly 4% time gain - which puts this effort roughly on a par with what Gebrselassie was doing about a decade ago without modern footwear.

Of course, some of the time difference will be accounted for by the many, many other factors, so take what you like as being down to the footwear as compared to the controlled conditions etc.

1 Like
#227

Efficiency gain of shoes =/= reduction in marathon time

What they mean is that the kinetic energy loss of the VapourFly shoes is better than normal shoes to the point that the metabolic efficiency of the human body becomes 4-7% better. That means that for every calorie of food taken on board, the human will be able to convert about 4% more of that to forward propulsion than other shoes.

It’s because it has a carbon fibre ‘rib’ in the sole, that flexes and stores energy upon impact, like an archery bow.

#228

This was the maths I was looking for

1 Like
#229

Alright Nikee