Four athletes run below the Olympic marathon limit on the same day. This is an unprecedented luxury for the Netherlands. It happened in Valencia last Sunday. New shoes revolutionize road athletics. They are already called the Wonder Slippers, thanks to the special foam and carbon plate. The foam absorbs better and at the same time also comes back more and the carbon provides more bending and suspension.
“We estimate the time saved in the marathon from a minute to a minute and a half,” says Ad Roskam, Technical Director of the Athletics Association. This is the trend that we are also seeing internationally. Less power is lost when connected to earth. In addition, the material also returns energy, which can be compared to a spring that pulls it. ”
Bart van Nunen (25) is one of the Dutch who ran fast enough to get a ticket to Tokyo on Sunday, which surprised him. He had fallen in the middle of the match, but he nonetheless improved his best by about three minutes. Its expiry time at 2.10.16 was well below the requirement of 2.11.30.
“After that fall I was covered in scratches, but it didn’t matter. You definitely are in pain during a marathon. I was especially surprised that I ran alone from 25 kilometers. The hares and the men I gathered with them did not keep up with speed. I thought: There is nothing like getting Time for games. ”
“You can compare it to a fluttering ski.”
OK. Dutch record holder Abdi Nagy, who had previously reached the limit, finished ahead of him. Frank Futselaar and Andrea Delstra after him. They were all in the new shoe. Van Noenen: “They walk well. The boundaries will be tightened in the future. Now the shoes are an advantage. You can compare it to developments in other sports, such as applause.”
The IAAF has set rules since February: a road shoe may contain a maximum of one carbon board and a sole thickness of no more than 4 cm. It is also a requirement that the shoes be freely available to all athletes. Nike has had the exclusive right for a long time. Van Nunen has been working on this game since spring this year, when his sponsor Asics created a copy. Roskam: “The same development is happening in athletics with the tights. The first impression is that it has less impact there. Energy saving is especially important over a long distance.”
I know I have the Olympic level regardless of the shoe
Van Nonenen maintains that the new shoe technology does not affect his performance. “I know I have an Olympic standard, regardless of the shoe. During the past year I have become a better runner. Instead of traveling 180 kilometers every week, I switch to quiet weeks of 160 kilometers. This different method of training works well. I also went back to studying mathematics at university.” Radboud. This is very important for mental balance. If you do not have anything besides your sport and training or competition is less than once, then you feel that you have absolutely nothing. Study gave me peace of mind. ” Now Tokyo beckons. In the Netherlands there are three starting points for the men’s marathon: the first goes to the fastest athlete in the ranking, and the other two refer to the points.
Van Nunen still has doubts about whether technological advances are beneficial for athletics. “Running has always been a very pure sport. This shoe takes something away from it. I think that’s a shame. On the other hand, it makes a difference in the load on the tendons and muscles. You recover faster. As an athlete, you can push your limits more and that is good for the sport.”
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For the first time, a human runs a marathon in two hours
Eliud Kipchog, the best marathon runner in the world, broke a special obstacle in Vienna on Saturday. For the first time, a human has run a marathon under two hours. Its time: 1 hour 59 minutes 40 seconds.
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