Nike Vaporfly Banned

Looks like the story of the miracle shoes is about to end. In case you're not following athletics, on 12 October 2019 the Kenyan runner Eliud Kipchoge attempted to break the marathon record and go under 2 hours. This happened at the Vienna marathon in Austria. His attempt was successful, he managed to finish the race under two hours. This was and still is the best result but unfortunately it's not recorded officially as the Vienna marathon is not recognized by the IAAF.

He knew very well that the new record won't be recognized by the IAAF but he wanted to prove it's possible and that he's capable of. However, there was a whole avalanche after the event, every news outlet was full with analysis, all kinds of speculations, theories about how he did it, why he managed to get under two hours and so on.

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One of the reasons they said was the shoes. He used the brand new Nike Vaporfly Next% to run the marathon, which made a lot of waves after the event. He wasn't the only one breaking a record using these shoes. His fellow Kenyan runner Brigid Kosgei broke the women’s marathon world record right after Eliud Kipchoge. She won the 2019 Chicago Marathon on 13 October 2019, she ran 2:14:04, which is better than the previous record with 81 seconds.

As I said earlier, these two wold records have made a lot of noise and IAAF said they are going to step in ans this is not right, and here's the result.

Nike Vaporfly shoes used to run the world’s first sub-two hour marathon will be banned from professional sport under a landmark decision on Friday that also allows currently sold versions of the high-tech shoes to be used in the Olympics.

These shoes have been banned because these contain triple carbon plates inside thick, ultra-compressed foam.

The good news is that at least Kosgei's record is official. She was asked what she thinks about the ban and this was her reply:

“The shoes did not have legs to run, it is the power and energy of an athlete,” she said. “Not every athlete who wore the shoes ran a world record.” source

I must admit, I agree with her even though my opinion doesn't count, unfortunately neither does hers. However, there's plenty of opportunity to prove the shoes were not the cause of the new record. Olympics are coming and I expect both of them to do well.