The only reason I replaced my old Asics spikes was that after 9 years, they were pretty tired! These are more of the same. Perfectly designed for a left foot fosbury take off. They are towards the snugger side (both length and width), which is obviously what you want for high jump (I tried out the adidas out of curiosity and the toe and heelboxes were a little roomier, which doesn't bode well for slipping on the plant foot at take-off). The right foot is built on a tilted last, which helps you run the curve more effectively but strangely the right shoe seems a little roomier than the left. This obviously isn't a risk on the non-take off foot but it's a little odd nonetheless. I also like the lack of pre-bend in the toe section. Again comparing to adidas, where the pre-bent toe does seem to add a nice rocking effect over the midfoot on take-off, but you lose a bit of propulsion as you can't toe off quite as much. You don't have that issue in the asics. This is a very solid shoe, which can easily handle a very fast approach from an athlete who is considerably heavier than a traditional high jumper and then translate that horizontal force into vertical movement.
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