The favourite for 800m gold in Paris Olympics explained how positive dialogue with shoe makers has led to a pair of spikes that she hopes can help her to a gold medal
Keely Hodgkinson will wear Nike’s latest superspike in Paris – having told the shoe giant the previous edition was not up to scratch.
The 800m superstar clocked a British record in the Victory 2 spikes last weekend and revealed that she has spent the past two years talking with Nike’s innovation team on the west coast of America.
She explained: “They asked me ‘Why don’t you wear the Victorys?’ Well, because they’re not very good.
“The old ones weren’t as stable, the material at the top of my foot moved around a lot. They had a lot of the same feedback. It was really cool to be involved in those conversations with the creative people behind the scenes making the shoes and how they want to really benefit the athletes.
“I put the new ones on and felt they were great. They were lightweight, secure, fast and so I wear them all the time now.”
Shoe tech is set to be a central theme across the athletics competition in Paris.
The 400m hurdles world record holder Karsten Warholm told Mirror Sport earlier this year that his custom-made Puma spikes give him an “unfair advantage”, while marathon runners including top Brit Emile Cairess are set to wear a single-use adidas shoe that retails at £400 and propels runners forward.
And Hodgkinson’s coach Trevor Painter has revealed that they were recently shown an experimental model on a trip to Nike’s HQ in Oregon that he thinks could change the game once again.
“We have seen some prototypes of what’s coming up soon and they’re like something from Back to the Future,” he said. “They are a bit weird, but they’ll probably set the word alight when they come out in the next few years.
“It’s really a good relationship to have [with Nike] because without this progression in the technology you wouldn’t see the times that we’re getting.
“I do feel sorry for the athletes that have gone in the past because that didn’t have those shoes. You know, what could they have actually done if they had them as well?
“It’s an exciting time for the sport and there’s a lot of ingenuity going into the way the tracks are laid because it helps you.
“On some tracks you wouldn’t go anywhere near as quick if you went in the wrong direction because it’s set up to propel you. Everything Is designed to help the athletes run faster so it is good to welcome that sort of technology in.”
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