OPINION

Nike shoes aren't performance-enhancing drugs

News, Adam Minter, Published on 24/10/2023

» World records in marathons have toppled like track hurdles in recent weeks. Tigst Assefa, the new women's record holder, beat the old one by more than two minutes. Kelvin Kiptum, the latest men's record holder, took 34 seconds off his predecessor's time. These are astonishing accomplishments. But not everybody is crediting the athletes. Instead, critics argue that Assefa and Kiptum couldn't have run at top speeds without a new generation of high-performance "super shoes". Some go so far as to equate the souped-up shoes to performance-enhancing drugs.