Modern competitive running entered a new era in 2016, when Nike began distributing a prototype trainer to elite runners. The new shoes were designed to look like Nike’s top publicly available model, the Zoom Streak 6, but the soles featured a revolutionary new design. Athletes wearing the prototype shoes took home all three medals at the men’s Olympic marathon in Rio de Janeiro that year. Regular runners were able to get their hands on them in 2017 when the company unveiled the Zoom Vaporfly 4% (the figure refers to efficiency gains measured in lab tests), the first true super shoe.