Abstract
Purpose The aim of this study was to explore the ergogenic effect of Advanced Footwear Technology (AFT) upon world-class male marathon running speed.
Method A retrospective analysis of 99 world-class male marathon runners’ performances between 2012 – 2021 was undertaken, providing a sample size of 971 performances, split into two footwear groups: AFT (n = 299) and traditional (n = 672). Additionally, details regarding the year of the marathon performance and racecourse were extracted. A mixed model for repeated measures (MMRM) analysis were undertaken identifying athlete (Wald Z = 2.821; p = .005) and course (Wald Z = 4.111; p < 0.001) as significant contributors to the variance in marathon running speed and as such were included as random factors with footwear type set as a fixed factor.
Results World-class male marathon running speeds were significantly faster (p <0.001) when running in AFT (5.441 m.s-1) when compared with traditional shoes (5.386 m.s-1) with a mean difference of 0.055 m.s-1 (95% CI: 0.039 – 0.071 m.s-1), translating to an improvement in marathon speed of 1.0% or a 79s improvement in marathon race time.
Conclusion Our findings demonstrate an improvement in world-class male marathon running speed of 1% when running in AFT, a near identical degree of improvement to the male marathon world record ran in AFT. Whilst a 1% improvement in marathon running times associated with AFT is smaller than previously predicted utilising laboratory-based models, this still reflects a significant degree of improvement at the elite level.
Method A retrospective analysis of 99 world-class male marathon runners’ performances between 2012 – 2021 was undertaken, providing a sample size of 971 performances, split into two footwear groups: AFT (n = 299) and traditional (n = 672). Additionally, details regarding the year of the marathon performance and racecourse were extracted. A mixed model for repeated measures (MMRM) analysis were undertaken identifying athlete (Wald Z = 2.821; p = .005) and course (Wald Z = 4.111; p < 0.001) as significant contributors to the variance in marathon running speed and as such were included as random factors with footwear type set as a fixed factor.
Results World-class male marathon running speeds were significantly faster (p <0.001) when running in AFT (5.441 m.s-1) when compared with traditional shoes (5.386 m.s-1) with a mean difference of 0.055 m.s-1 (95% CI: 0.039 – 0.071 m.s-1), translating to an improvement in marathon speed of 1.0% or a 79s improvement in marathon race time.
Conclusion Our findings demonstrate an improvement in world-class male marathon running speed of 1% when running in AFT, a near identical degree of improvement to the male marathon world record ran in AFT. Whilst a 1% improvement in marathon running times associated with AFT is smaller than previously predicted utilising laboratory-based models, this still reflects a significant degree of improvement at the elite level.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 1-7 |
| Journal | European Journal of Applied Physiology |
| Early online date | 3 Nov 2023 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 2023 |
Keywords
- Advanced footwear technology
- super shoes
- race performance
- technological doping
- runing