Wed, June 25, 2025
World Athletics has established a Request for Proposal concerning shoe regulations
World Athletics has established a Request for Proposal covering two services that concern its athlete shoe regulations. The International Federation has regulated athletes’ shoes since 2020 and has a published list of approved shoes. Its regulations include a maximum sole height of 40mm for road shoes and 25mm for track shoes for distances of 800m or less. Additionally, only one rigid plate or comparable system is permitted per shoe to ensure no one has a competitive advantage in this sense.
Carbon plates, for example, are rigid inserts made of carbon fibre, used in the midsole of some running shoes to enhance performance. These plates are designed to improve propulsion and energy return by stiffening the shoe and promoting a more efficient stride.
Now, to enhance shoe regulation, World Athletics seeks to appoint a body to conduct the core areas of activities required of the independent expert within the regulations (concerning both the approval process and the shoe control process).
Regarding the approval process, this includes reviewing and processing applications for approval of athletic shoes submitted by shoe manufacturers using a shoe approval platform developed by the International Federation in line with its athletic shoe regulations.
Regarding the shoe control process, World Athletics has listed the following objectives:
To assess and investigate potential non-compliance matters including, where applicable, further inspection of physical athletic shoes.
As part of the ratification process of world record shoes where the physical shoe is collected and sent for further inspection as a mandatory part of the ratification process.
Design and execute the shoe control process at events. The process specifically concerns whether an athletic shoe is on the approved list or not. The process is conducted post competition and overseen by a lead contact from World Athletics.
Furthermore, an athletic shoe model must be available to the public for a minimum of four months before it can be used in elite competition. This will help ensure that such prototypes are more accessible to the wider public.
One of the biggest goals of the independent expert involves ensuring that technological innovation does not lead to unfairness within elite competition and upholding the integrity of athletics.
The full tender can be found here.
To register interest, please send an email to RFPShoes@worldathletics.org by 12:00pm CEST on Friday 27 June 2025.
