OLYMPIANS competing in Sydney this year may shatter several world records
thanks to running shoes individually tuned to damp down the vibrations
shuddering through their bodies. The shoes could also one day be used to boost
the performance of elderly walkers.
The shoes, designed by Benno Nigg, James Wakeling and their colleagues at the
Human Performance Laboratory in the University of Calgary, Canada, contain
conventional sport shoe materials. But by manipulating the viscosity, elasticity
and stiffness of the sole, the researchers believe they can boost performance by
up to 4 per cent. This could slice around 4 minutes off the…
