Super Shoes Or Super Placebo?

Thinking of buying a pair of Nike Vaporfly's (pictured above) for your next racing shoe? Or another super shoe from another brand? Here's a really interesting study I read on super running shoes.

Researchers in that study (Hebert-Losier et al, 2025) recruited 24 female recreational runners. All ran in Nike's Vaporfly Next% 2.

Here is what is so interesting, the shoe was not changed or manipulated. It was how the shoe was described. For the first shoe, the narrative was a "super shoe" description. carbon plated, energy return foam, elite level technology and expensive ($400).

For the other pair, a "basic/ knock-off" (or counterfeit) description with  no carbon plate, standard foam, lower price, ($100) and the idea that elite runners will not race in them.

Nothing changed in the shoe, just the "story" or description of the shoe.

All the participants did four 6-minute treadmill runs at 10km/h on a 1 percent incline. The researchers measured their running economy (V02 and energy cost). Cadence and contact time on the ground and perceptual responses were also investigated. These include comfort, enjoyment of run, ease, expected performance and perceived injury risk.

When the runners thought they were running with the Super shoes, perception changed noticeably. Reported comfort was significantly higher. They also felt running was easier and more enjoyable. Expected performance was higher and their perceived injury rate was lower.

To summarize, the subjective experience of running improved even though the shoes used were exactly the same.

What about the objective measures? There were NO significant differences in running economy, oxygen consumption, lactate responses or even biomechanically.

Whilst running at 10 km/h pace for 6 minutes, belief alone did nothing to translate into measurable physiological or even biomechanical differences.

Does this mean you don't have to buy a super shoes for your next attempt to beat your marathon personal best? 

Personally I don't think so. 6 minutes at 10 km/h pace using recreational runners may not be totally accurate. It shows that expectation plays a big role in how running feels even though performance metrics remained unchanged.

Comfort, confidence, enjoyment and perceived safety matter so one can train consistently and push themselves harder when there is less fear of injury. These may not show in data measuring running economy, but may still influence outcomes over time.

The message for runners is NOT that they do not need to buy super shoes. Instead it's that shoes cannot replace training and price tags do not guarantee performance. Perception changes a runner's experience, even when physiology does not change.

Technology helps sometimes. Sometimes the story helps too.

So are you buying Nike's Vaporfly or Decathlon's Kiprun (pictured above)?

Reference

Hebert-Losier K, PfisterA, Finayson SJ et al (2025). Are Super Shoes A Super Placebo? A Randomised Crossover Trial In Female Recreational Runners. Footwear Sc. 17(2): 79-88. DOI: 10.1080/19424280.2025.2458330