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by spacecadet 448 days ago
This. Shoes are meaningless, pose, stride, biomechanical process.
2 comments

They can make a difference for athletes:

"The data showed significant differences in the oxygen uptake (a way to measure the energy cost of running) in the Vaporfly shoe resulting in a 2.8 percent improved running economy, or the amount of energy it takes a runner to go a certain distance, over the Adidas shoe on average"

https://lifesciences.byu.edu/can-your-shoes-really-make-you-...

But not every runner sees improvement in time. so-called non-responders exist at the elite level but I don't recall seeing any analysis as to why some runners run faster and others don't with these carbon-plate shoes.

[edit] a quick search found this article about supershoes and the range of response - see https://run.outsideonline.com/gear/super-shoe-hyper-responde...

Also the significant benefits that comes from improved post-run recovery with modern super shoes, allowing athletes to run significantly more weekly mileage.
Proper post-run recovery allows for infinite distance.
If this were the case why don't we see more Olympians running in vibrams?
Not vibrams, but please have a closeer look at those olypians shoes. These are very lightweight and most important _flat_ shoes, encouraging a natural running pose.
The best I could find was the 2023 berlin marathon, but looking at the shoes the heel and midfoot are flat while the forefoot is definitely raised.

https://www.runningshoesguru.com/2023/09/the-shoes-of-the-wi...