Athletics won't strangle super-shoe innovation - Coe

Image caption,

Sabastian Sawe gifted one of his shoes from the London Marathon to Kenya president William Ruto on his homecoming in Nairobi

Still, the rise of super shoes over the past decade, particularly when it comes the marathon, has prompted World Athletics into a more active regulatory role.

At the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, all three medallists in the men's race wore prototypes of the Nike Vaporfly 4%, which promised a 4% increase in performance.

By 2020, the governing body had introduced limits on sole thickness, the design of carbon-fibre plates designed to propel the body forward as well as commercial availability to prevent excessive technological advantage.

Sportswear brands continue to innovate, pushing the boundaries of the rules, with Coe making it clear regulations could change.

"This is inevitably an evolutionary process," he said. "It's only been relatively recently that we've had a system of evaluation.

"We work closely with the athletes, the coaches, the shoe companies. We don't want them to go off and spend hundreds of millions of dollars on shoes that we're going to find illegal. So there is a balance."

He also highlighted another benefit of innovation.

"We often overlook that with the design to improve performance goes a lot of biomechanical work around injury prevention," explained the 59-year-old.

"The athletes are able to train for longer, they're able to race longer, they're able to be in our sport for longer, and that has to be a good thing."

Current rules on 'the right side'

Reflecting on his own career, the 1980 and 1984 Olympic 1500m champion added: "I don't think I'd have run under two hours for the marathon with the shoes, but I might have run a little bit quicker for 800m."

But for critics, the concern goes beyond regulation. The fear is that technology could erode the essence of distance running and that performances could reflect engineering rather than human endurance.

Coe accepts the concern but believes the sport remains on the right track.

"Life is always about balances," he said.

"I think at World Athletics we have technical teams that are always going to be conscious of where that balance is. At the moment, I think we're the right side of it."