Nike Unveils Fly New Gear For Olympic Year


Nike Zoom SuperFly FlyKnit

Twenty years ago, when Michael Johnson was embarking on his famous 200m/400m double at the Atlanta Olympics, Nike designed him an audacious pair of golden spikes.

As Allyson Felix prepares to take on the same challenge in Rio, she too will have a custom pair of spikes to race in. Knowing the fine line between gold and silver in those events could lie in the turns, Felix and Nike teamed in an unprecedented design and engineering collaboration aimed specifically at the demands of the 200m and 400m.

The data collected in this research led Nike to create a spike adapted specifically to Felix's biomechanics. To tailor the fit to the unique contours of Felix's foot, a custom last was created specifically for her size 9.5, AA-width feet. The spike's plate was also developed to align with Felix's stiffness preference, a balance of flexibility and pop made possible through 3D print prototyping.

"One of the things that I love about the process is that I'm not an expert in this, but I have all this science behind me," Felix said in a press release. "This is what [Nike] does and this is what they're passionate about. I can have confidence that they're going to give me the best equipment."