The debate around super spikes was reignited on the final evening of World Championships action in Eugene when unheralded Nigerian Tobi Amusan shattered the 100 metres hurdles world record wearing ultra-springy long-distance shoes.
Although Amusan finished fourth at last year’s Olympics, she arrived at these championships with a personal best of 12.41 seconds – making her just the seventh-fastest woman lining up in Eugene.
Having improved that mark slightly to 12.40sec in the heats, Amusan then stunned everyone inside Hayward Field with a hugely unexpected 12.12sec world record in the semi-final, knocking 0.08sec off Kendra Harrison’s previous record from 2016. Amusan went even quicker in the final, winning gold in 12.06sec, although that time was aided by an illegally strong tailwind.
After the race, it emerged that Amusan, 25, was wearing springy Adidas Avanti TYO spikes aimed at 5,000m and 10,000m runners, which have “super-light foam that stores and returns more energy than ever before”. Adidas say the spikes “allow athletes to push past what was possible”.
Asked why she had chosen to wear long-distance spikes, Amusan said a foot injury meant she was unable to use sprint spikes which, traditionally, are far stiffer and harder.
“My abilities are not centred around spikes,” she said. “But firstly, I had plantar fasciitis at the beginning of the season so that set me back a week, for a while.
“I spoke to Adidas and I requested if I could get spikes with a softer sole. They recommended a lot of stuff and I feel comfortable in that.”
Of her dramatic improvement at these championships, Amusan said: “Speed-wise, I feel like I needed to work on my speed. I did 100m at the start of the season so that had a huge factor to come to play in the hurdles and I knew once I get the technical part out, I’d be fine.”
Amusan’s was not the only standout time in a bizarre set of 100m hurdles semi-finals, which saw a remarkable 12 out of 24 athletes set personal bests, including Cindy Sember, who broke her sister Tiffany Porter’s British record with a time of 12.50sec.
With five national records broken across the three semi-finals, four-time Olympic champion Michael Johnson questioned their legitimacy, saying: “I don’t believe they are correct.” World Athletics insisted all the times were accurate.
Sember, who finished fifth in the final, admitted she was surprised by Amusan’s world record: “A little bit. She has always been a fast girl. Just to see those times is really impressive. We are competitors and I am trying to get there.”
Of her own performance, she added: “I would like to have done better in the final. I wanted to medal. But I know it is coming. I am working on it.
“I go to the Commonwealths with most of the same girls, which is good. I am excited. I think this is my time. I want to get a world medal, but next year is the goal. I am tough on myself. I need to rejoice in the fact that I did that but it is very hard for me.”
Amusan’s was one of two world records set on the final night, with Sweden’s Mondo Duplantis in a sphere of his own to improve his pole vault world record yet again and win gold with 6.21m.
The 22-year-old Olympic champion added one centimetre to his previous best, maintaining an unbeaten streak that began last August. His margin of victory was colossal, with America’s Christopher Nilsen only managing to clear 5.94m for silver.