Quantifying the Effect of Super Shoes on Elite Marathoning

Erin Franke Speaker
Carnegie Mellon University
 
Tuesday, Aug 4: 11:00 AM - 11:25 AM
Invited Paper Session 
Thomas M. Menino Convention & Exhibition Center 
Super shoes are lightweight running shoes designed with a carbon fiber plate for improving running economy. Since their widespread adoption by elite marathon runners in 2017, the men's and women's world records have each been broken three times. In order to quantify the impact of super shoes on professional marathon times, we apply a mixed effects model to 2011-2023 Chicago marathon data. Using our model, we compare the probability of top elite runners pre- and post-super shoes breaking the elusive 2:00 barrier (for males) and 2:10 barrier (for females).

Keywords

marathon

super shoes

mixed effects