Nike Launches New Alphafly It Says Is Within World Athletics Rules
Nike has launched a mass market version of the prototype Alphafly shoe it says complies with new World Athletics rules.
The governing body for athletics had previously released guidelines stating that prototype shoes would be effectively banned until after the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 and that shoes would only be legal if they were available to the public at large. World Athletics has also said that any new developments made after 30th April will have to have been available on the open market for four months before the shoes can be used in competitions – effectively banning them from the Tokyo Games.
On top of that, legal shoes will also need to comply with new technical guidelines which state shoes must not have soles thicker than 40mm or have more than one solid plate or blade embedded.
Those regulations would have prohibited Nike’s Alphafly prototype shoes, worn by Eliud Kipchoge when he ran the first sub two-hour marathon in Vienna as part of the INEOS 1:59 Challenge.
Nike, however, has released a new version it says does comply with the regulations, calling the Kipchoge performance ‘the ultimate test run’ for its new Nike Air Zoom Alphafly NEXT%, which has allowed the company to create a legal version.
John Donahoe, President and CEO, Nike Inc, said: “At Nike, we see sport’s greatest stage as our biggest opportunity to show the world what’s possible. After all, what’s at stake isn’t just records, but the future of sport itself. In Tokyo, we’ll help the world’s best reach new levels of performance with our revolutionary platform, while sharing real solutions for the barriers all athletes face under rapidly changing climate conditions.”
The product was announced along with several other Nike innovations ahead of the Tokyo Games, including basketball and skateboarding lines.
It has also announced a ‘Space Hippie’ range, an ‘exploratory’ footwear collection made from ‘space junk’ – scrap material from factory floors which the company has transformed into new products which the company says creates shoes with the lowest carbon footprint score it has ever made.
John Hoke, Nike Chief Design Officer, said: “Space Hippie product presents itself as an artifact from the future. It’s avant garde; it’s rebelliously optimistic.
“Space Hippie is also an idea. It is about figuring out how to make the most with the least material, the least energy and the least carbon.
