NKE Nike Inc

By Rachel Bachman 

ATLANTA -- More than 700 runners qualified for Saturday's U.S. Olympic marathon trials. That's the largest-ever group of men and women to try to finish among the top three men or women and make Team USA.

A bumper crop hit qualifying times to reach the trials, the theory goes, because many runners had a performance aid: Nike's Vaporfly shoes, with their thick soles and carbon-fiber plates.

This week, Nike is offering something more: a free pair of the next edition to all trials runners.

The running-industry behemoth was handing out pairs of Nike Air Zoom Alphafly NEXT% on Thursday at a conference room inside the Georgia World Congress Center. A steady stream of trials runners lined up, showed their IDs and trotted through the center's hallways to try out the yet-to-be-officially-released shoes.

"They're different -- feel like springboards on your feet," Katie Conlon said as she peered at the lime green-and-black shoes. "Never really felt anything like it. Strange."

Conlon, a 29-year-old from Jamestown, N.D., who lives in Sydney, Australia, said she wouldn't use the shoes on Saturday -- repeating the mantra that no one planning to run 26.2 miles should try something new on race day. She said she would stick with Brooks's carbon-fiber model, the Hyperion Elite.

But that's what makes this year's trials so striking. Because of the turmoil caused by the new wave of shoes, which have been shown in studies to speed race times, some people were considering trying the brand-new model for the biggest event of their lives. That was true even for people who have a good chance to actually qualify for the Olympic team.

Jacob Riley, who ran one of the fastest qualifying times to reach the trials, said late Thursday afternoon that he wasn't sure which shoe he would wear -- Nike's new Alphaflys, or a previous model, the Nike ZoomX Vaporfly NEXT%.

"It's going to be more about just how smooth does my stride feel?" said Riley, who doesn't currently have a shoe sponsor. "It's an annoying decision to have to make this close to the race, but it is what it is. I'll be trying to wear the fastest shoe that I can."

The Alphafly won't be available at retail until Saturday, and even then at first only for Nike members. The sudden availability of the shoe days before the trials, and the belief that they could give athletes an edge over those who don't wear them, forced a tough decision on runners.

Marathoners are warned against eating, drinking or wearing anything new on race day. During a two-plus-hour race, a stray seam or ill-placed fabric in a shoe can irk or injure a runner and torpedo a finishing time.

Nike runners at least have had limited exposure to the new shoes -- but a couple of them were still undecided Thursday.

Nike-sponsored Leonard Korir, another top qualifier, said he also was trying to decide between the shoe models. "I think NEXT%, because it's lighter," he said.

Bernard Lagat, a Nike-sponsored runner trying to qualify for his sixth Olympics, also was mulling the two Nike models. He said he planned to try the different shoes in workouts on Friday and then make a decision.

Last month, track and field governing body World Athletics issued rules limiting shoes' sole thickness to no more than 40 millimeters and restricting the use of rigid material like carbon fiber to one continuous plane. The rules specify that any shoes to be used in the Tokyo 2020 Olympics next summer must be available at retail by April 30.

The deadline propelled brands to rush out their carbon-fiber-plate models in time for the trials, at least in prototype form.

Conlon, like so many other runners, had embraced Nike's Vaporfly line and competing brands' similar offerings. On Saturday she'll wear Hyperion Elites by Brooks, another model in the new wave. But she's keeping the chunky-soled Alphaflys.

"It kind of reminds me of the Spice Girls, back in the day," she said. "The 2020 version."

Write to Rachel Bachman at rachel.bachman@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

February 28, 2020 08:13 ET (13:13 GMT)

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