RRW: World Athletics Gave Member Federations Flexibility On New Shoe Rules
By David Monti, @d9monti
(c) 2020 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved
(11-Dec) On July 28 World Athletics announced amended regulations governing competition shoes. The much-anticipated rule change was “designed to give certainty to athletes preparing for the postponed Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games and to preserve the integrity of elite competition,” the world governing body for athletics said in a statement. The rules, which were to take place immediately, limited the stack height (essentially the thickness of a shoe’s sole and midsole) to 25mm for track events of 800m and above (and cross country), and 40mm for road events.