You know how NASCAR’s race cars all derive from commercially available Fords, Chevys and the like? The same thing appears to be happening in the marathon racing world, in response to new World Athletics rules dictating what shoes can be worn in sanctioned competitions such as the Tokyo Olympics, which begin July 24th.
Along with stringent product specs — like how many carbon plates can be used (one) and how high the sole can be (40 millimeters) — the rules stipulate that shoes must be commercially available for at least four months to be legal for competitive use. Hence, all the new Air Zooms Nike teased last week, and today, dueling carbon fiber shoe announcements from two other major running brands, Adidas and New Balance.
From what we can tell, both launches have much to offer serious runners, in somewhat different ways. Here’s a quick look at the highlights of the new Adidas adizero Pro and New Balance FuelCell TC.
Adidas adizero Pro
Adidas has seen loads of distance-running success with its adizero line, dating back to Haile Gebrselassie breaking the men’s marathon world record in 2008. More recently, adizeros wrapped the feet of Mary Keitany when she broke the women’s record in 2017 and Rhonex Kipruto when he laid down the 10K record last month.
For the latest iteration, Adidas re-teamed with Japanese running shoe guru Yoshitori Omori to reshape the shoe and loaded it with fast, efficient tech. Newsworthy features include Lightstrike, an ultralight TPU foam noted for its energy return capability, and a Carbitex carbon plate, engineered to encourage springy toe-offs that keep your feet flying smoothly and efficiently.
