V 11 N. 54 Did An Engineering Project Influence a World Record on the Track?

Mercedes are used to setting records on track, but the Silver Arrows have played a key part in a different type of track record this week, after Track & Field spikes they designed in collaboration with PUMA helped Karsten Warholm set an incredible new 400m men's hurdles record at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

With design input from Mercedes, the PUMA Evospeed Tokyo Future Faster+ spikes feature carbon fibre threads in the upper and a carbon plate in the sole, with each shoe weighing just 135 grams.

And Norwegian athlete Warholm used the spikes – which he and his coach Leif Olav Alnes also helped to design – to set a new World Record of 45.94s at the Tokyo Olympics on August 3, in a race some are already calling the greatest in Olympic history.

“This collaboration with PUMA has been a natural alignment – track spikes need to run fast, and racing cars need to drive fast,” said Mercedes Team Principal Toto Wolff. “Whether you’re designing a great racing car or the perfect track spike, it comes down to engineering and putting as much performance as possible into the product.

“We have drawn on our experience and expertise in carbon fibre with the design, and along the way we learned that making an innovative track spike involves the same kind of complexity as a Formula 1 car – and it has been an exciting challenge to tackle together.”

Speaking of the tie-up, meanwhile, Warholm said: “What I feel is very unique about this project is that it combines the best of all the worlds. It combines what PUMA knows about how to make a shoe that’s comfortable and fits your foot. It combines what Mercedes knows about carbon fibre through their Formula 1 work and it combines what my coach and I know about running and the biomechanics for running.

“This is very unique and it has given us the perfect product for us to work on the track - a spike that is really aggressive, with a really good forward propulsion.”

In conclusion I venture to guess that Warholm's innate ability and his incredible fortitude and drive to succeed were more responsible than the engineering that went into his shoes.  

It has also been argued that his left lead foot running compared to Rai Benjamin's lead  right foot running may have made it a slightly shorter way around the track for Warholm.  I'd need to see more of the work to accept this math problem.  

The article indicates that Karsten Warholm worked with Puma and  the Formula One Gran Prix engineers at Mecedes Benz to develop a pair of shoes to assist him in his quest for a gold in the 400IH.   By all descriptions they sound like a stripped down pair of Nike Vaporflys, but who am I to say for sure?  I'm sure this is blasphemy at the Puma factory.   I'm sure there are still a lot of structural options out there that Nike did not incorporate in the Vaporfly.  The article, which seems as much an advertisement as a scientific paper describes as has been described before how the carbon composite layer in the sole of the shoe is able to absorb the shock of impact and return that energy back to the runner through his foot and probably all the muscles in the lower leg that are in the process of loading for their next contraction.  There is also a hint that the shoes also work in consort with the new type of track that was put down for the Tokyo Olympics.  But there is no description of what made that track different from others on the top circuits where international meets are held.  And Sydney McGlaughlin was wearing New Balance to get her record.    Anyway it is fodder to think about.   After reading it I wrote to two runners I know who were very good marathoners in the early 2000s, Kara and Tara Storage (2hr 45 min)  Both ladies are engineers who are more than familiar with carbon composite engineering applications.  

Tara's reply was as follows:

Hi George,

Here are a few of my thoughts. Carbon fiber composites have great strength/stiffness to weight ratios but also have good energy absorbing/dampening properties. Therefore, they can be tailored for applications like LIGHTWEIGHT automobile leaf springs, skis/snowboards, amputee springs, and now fiber insoles/plates in distance running shoes (the Mercedes/Puma track spikes is a new one for me!). A running friend and Kara’s boyfriend, Jonathan Spowart, has a pair of Nike’s Vaporfly (the distance shoe with the carbon fiber plate) and has consistently run PRs in the shoe. He says his legs don’t tire as quickly, he has a more efficient stride, and ultimately can maintain his cadence for longer than his other running shoes. It scientifically makes sense. I’d love to try a pair but they’re pretty pricey. It’s hard for me to justify when I know the raw material costs. They should be much cheaper, especially when you they don’t always use aerospace grade fibers. 

In automobiles, composites are not great in blunt impact or crash performance once the fibers break and delaminate.  A lot of times you won’t see much external/visual damage, but there may be large internal damage with minimal ability to repair. Therefore, you must scrap and replace. I’m not a fan of composite cars. However, in footwear there’s not a lot of catastrophic damage so I actually think it’s a good application. It would make a great Ball State Human Performance research study! I’m sure they’re working on something. 

Regarding the ethics question, I don’t have issues with the shoes being legal in T&F and road running since it is available to the general public. Shoes have advanced over time as have the tracks (cinder to all-weather rubber).

The following is a description of the track surface at the Tokyo stadium from learingenglish.voa.com

The track is made by Mondo, an Italian company that makes running surfaces for sports competitions. The shoes, known as Vaporfly, are made by Nike.

Mondo created its first track for the 1976 Olympics in Montreal. It has supplied tracks to 12 different Olympic Games. The company built the track in Tokyo’s Olympic Stadium in late 2019. Because the Games were postponed for one year, the surface was not used much before the athletes arrived.

Ronnie Baker is an American 100-meter runner.

He told The Associated Press that running on the surface “feels like I’m walking on clouds.” He called the track “beautiful” and “smooth.”

Mondo says the Olympic track is designed to “maximize the speed of athletes and improve their performance.”

The top part of the track is made from extra-hard rubber. Below that are spaces containing air holes. This design aims to take the shock and help runners bounce off the track after each step.

So there's the info on that race and tech development.

The shoe, the technique, and the surface.   But let's not forget the input by the athlete.