Gold Medal Shoes: Winning Kicks of the Olympic Games

Every shoe brand claims to make us run faster and jump higher. Nothing communicates this better than The Sandlot scene where the baseball-loving rascals watch in envy as their teammate laces up his “secret weapon” — a pair of PF Flyers.

As the audience, we understand the meta-message at play here: “The real power was inside you all along!” But in the real world, athletes aiming for Olympic gold will take every advantage they can, including faster shoes.

The Olympics, then, can offer a real-world test of brands’ claims, showing us which shoes crossed the finish line first. That still doesn’t constitute absolute proof that the shoe gets even partial credit. In any marathon, for example, I’d put my money on Eliud Kipchoge — even if the Kenyan runner was wearing Birkenstocks. 

That being said, there’s no doubt that shoes are part of the calculus of success — especially when the difference between gold and silver can come down to a hundredth or thousandth of a second. Here are some of the shoes that have already made their way to Olympic podiums this summer. 

Noah Lyles: Adidas Adizero Y-3

Noah Lyles wasn’t shy in his certainty that he’d win the 100m race in this year’s Olympics. And the American runner managed to pull off that bold claim — albeit by just 5/1,000th of a second.

In a literal photo finish, the top runners were so close it was initially unclear who had won the race. But officials ultimately declared Lyles the winner by a razor-thin margin. It’s also a boost for adidas, which outfitted Lyles with the Adidas Adizero Prime SP3 Strung x Y-3 running spikes. The track shoes are a collaboration between adidas and Japanese designer Yohji Yamamoto. Unsurprisingly, the shoes sell for a brisk $450.

Keely Hodgkinson: Nike Zoom Victory 2

Great Britain’s Keely Hodgkinson is among the many newly minted winners from this summer’s games in Paris. Hodgkinson took silver when she competed in the 800m at the 2020 Tokyo Games and returned 3 years later to take gold.

She earned her gold on August 5 with an impressive time of 1:56.72 — and her distinctive shoes could likely be seen even from the nosebleed section. The bright orange kicks Hodgkinson wore are the Nike Zoom Victory 2 ($275), which rock a carbon fiber plate and high-energy-return foam.

Three years ago, Olympic hurdler Karsten Warholm called the emerging shoe tech “bull****.” Fast-forward to this year, and he’s now using them, too. He’s “the biggest hypocrite in the world,” he told The Guardian before this year’s Olympics.

Alex Yee: New Balance FuelCell Rebel 4

South London scored a new hometown hero this summer when Alex Lee took gold in the men’s triathlon. The young athlete posted an impressive time of 01:43:33.

That’s just 40 seconds slower than the world record set by Yee’s British compatriot Alistair Brownlee in 2016. Yee blazed through the running portion in a pair of New Balance FuelCell Rebel 4 sneakers. Unlike many “super shoes” on this list, the New Balance kicks cost only $140. Not every Olympic athlete has to use the most expensive shoes available!

Check out the GearJunkie review of the original New Balance FuelCell Rebel.

Janja Garnbret: Five Ten Hiangles

As a climber, I view Slovenian climber Janja Garnbret in a similar light as Eliud Kipchoge: She’s simply the best, regardless of what she has on her feet. She proved that again at this summer’s Olympic Games, where she took the gold medal in women’s sport climbing. Garnbret also won gold for women’s climbing when the sport debuted at the 2020 Tokyo Games, making her the first Olympic superstar of competitive climbing.

Regardless, I’d be lying if I said I didn’t want to try Garnbret’s bouldering shoes of choice. In this case, she’s using Five Ten, a longtime climbing shoe brand bought by adidas in 2011. Specifically, Garnbret used the Five Ten Hiangle.

As climbing editor Seiji Ishii wrote in the GearJunkie review of these shoes: “If the Hiangle Pro fits your foot, I feel you would be hard-pressed to find a higher-performing shoe for gym or competition climbing.”

LeBron James/A’ja Wilson: Nike LeBron 22

It shouldn’t surprise anyone that Team USA won gold medals in both men’s and women’s categories of basketball. Serbia certainly seemed a genuine threat this time around, fighting for the championship against an American team that included LeBron James and Steph Curry. But James helped turn things around, scoring 21 points in a game that ended 95-91.

On the women’s side, A’ja Wilson also proved herself a force to be reckoned with. She led the women’s team to an eighth consecutive gold medal in a neck-and-neck game against France that ended 67-66.

Interestingly, both Wilson and James wore the same shoes: the Nike LeBron 22. This latest version of James’ ongoing sneaker line with Nike will get a rerelease in September that capitalizes on the Olympic wins. Until then, you can find all of James’ signature shoe models on the Nike website. They’ll likely sell out fast.

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