ABSTRACT
Stefanyshyn & Fusco (2004) investigated the affects of shoe bending stiffness on sprinting performance. The results showed that as shoe bending stiffness was increased sprint performance increased, but this relationship only held true as stiffness increased to a moderate value, after which performance decreases and this relationship no longer held. It was reasoned that that in order to maximise performance individual tuning of the athlete’s shoe stiffness to the athlete’s particular characteristics is required. The current pilot investigation thus sought to investigate the user/footwear interaction with respect to different shoe bending stiffness conditions. Two isoinertial metrics were used to investigate the influence of footwear on sprint performance, using sprint shoes with selective laser sintered (SLS) sole units designed to be identical with the exception of their bending stiffness. A concentric jump from 120° knee angle and a bounce drop jump were used. The two jump metrics were selected as representations of the start and maximal speed phases of sprinting respectively.
