Lord Coe supports innovation and rejects the idea that superspikes changed athletics

World Athletics President Lord Sebastian Coe insists shoe innovation is unstoppable, but doubts superspikes will really separate athletes.

Karsten Warholm and Sydney McLaughlin broke their own world records over 400 m hurdles in Tokyo and won Olympic titles.

Rai Benjamin and Dalilah Muhammad, who finished second in the men and women, also beat the old records, while double winner Elaine Thompson-Herah set an Olympic record over 100 m and a national record over 200 m.

Elaine Thompson-Herah is among those breaking records in Tokyo (Martin Rickett / PA)

(PA wire)

Super spikes, which provide runners with a platform made of a plate of carbon and foam to propel them, have been seen as helpful, but Coe isn’t sure they’ll change the landscape.

He said, “I just think we’re in a world of innovation. I don’t want to strangle the innovation that our manufacturers’ shoe companies bring to the table.

“There is a balance – of course there is a balance. We have a system that evaluates the shoes.

“The principle I’ve always followed is a level playing field and I think we’ll get to a point where there isn’t much more advantage, no matter what brand you’re wearing.”

Warholm criticized Benjamin’s Nike shoes, calling them “b ********” after their race on Tuesday, despite confirming that he is working on his own shoe with Puma and the Mercedes F1 team.

He believed it was wrong that Nike athletes could run in sprint spikes in a sheet of responsive Pebax foam, and felt that they were going to take that credibility away.

Coe added, “What he is actually saying is that he has a shoe with the technology that suits him. The other available technology clearly does not suit him, because if he had, then he would have it. “

The quick times are also attributed to the route in Tokyo. Andrea Vallauri, track designer at Mondo, has said that this gives athletes a one to two percent performance advantage, but again, Coe doesn’t think that has changed the established order.

Sebastian Coe doesn’t think shoes will change the shape of sport (Mike Egerton / PA)

(PA archive)

“It’s fast. It’s clearly fast. How can I show it? I see really talented athletes who are likely to run faster on fast surfaces,” he said at the Olympic Stadium.

“I don’t think we’re going to see a dramatic change in the order. Warholm runs fast, but we always knew he ran fast and he is probably a bit faster on this track.

“Just like Sydney, Dalilah, Rai. For as long as I can remember we’ve had conversations about fast and not fast tracks. I avoided routes that I knew weren’t fast. “