If you see your favorite skilled athletes shattering world information or attaining private bests, your consideration naturally gravitates towards the athlete and the footwear on their toes. Take, as an illustration, Kelvin Kiptum’s world file on the 2023 Chicago Marathon. Moreover his exceptional achievement, a lot of the highlight was on the unreleased Nike Alphafly 3 footwear. However the innovation begins lengthy earlier than, throughout the analysis laboratories of main sporting manufacturers, spearheaded by entrepreneurs like Marcus Brown of Kingston, Ont.
We’ve all seen these movies of professional runners on treadmills, their our bodies coated with digital leads connected to wires, so shoe model researchers can develop shoe expertise that helps athletes run quicker. Brown has developed a software program program referred to as Theia Markerless that dispenses with the wires and markers, making it simpler and quicker for researchers to entry biomechanics knowledge. As we speak, Theia stands as a beacon of innovation within the biomechanics trade, working with a number of prime working shoe manufacturers, together with Puma.
When Brown began constructing the muse for Theia in 2015, he knew it had potential, however didn’t count on it to develop into what it’s right now. With a background in statistics and a eager curiosity in math and sports activities, Marcus studied engineering and machine studying. The intersection of those disciplines led him to the fascinating world of biomechanics—an ideal mix of his passions, the place math meets athleticism.
“Being the primary of one thing might be difficult, particularly when you must pave the best way,” says Brown. “I knew there needed to be an easier methodology than putting tons of markers on athletes. I wanted to discover a strategy to accumulate extra knowledge and revolutionize analysis.”
Brown acknowledges that his product wasn’t an in a single day success; it took almost 5 years to develop the expertise. With validation from Queens College, the corporate gained confidence to begin collaborating with manufacturers. The turning level got here when Brown noticed groundbreaking outcomes from a examine, receiving kinetic knowledge in minutes fairly than days.
“We accomplished a analysis undertaking with almost 1,000 contributors in a single day,” says Brown in disbelief. “A activity of that magnitude would have beforehand taken us six months. We thought it was unattainable.”
As soon as Theia was prepared, Brown was launched by his colleague to Laura Healey, Puma’s senior supervisor of analysis in footwear innovation. Healey, who attended Queen’s College with Sheahan, immediately noticed the potential of Theia Markerless, opening doorways to a brand new period of shoe growth the place biomechanics knowledge drove Puma’s innovation.
Seeing elite athletes like Canadian marathoner Rory Linkletter and Olympic medalist Molly Seidel use his software program at Puma HQ in Boston was surreal for Brown. However the true influence lies in empowering athletes and types with real-time insights. “When working, athletes sweat, and the kinetic markers fall off,” says Healey. “There have been instances once we didn’t have time to gather knowledge, however now markerless expertise offers it rapidly with out the additional effort.”
In accordance with Healey, Theia’s software program assisted in serving to check and design Puma’s latest carbon-plated racer, The Quick-R Elite 2, worn by Linkletter throughout his 2:08:01 Olympic qualifying run in Sevilla, Spain, earlier this 12 months. “With Theia, we deal with working economic system—understanding which footwear are best for our athletes to fine-tune future merchandise,” says Healey.
When requested about the way forward for the footwear trade, Healey doesn’t anticipate vital modifications. “I imagine it’s about optimization and personalization. The important thing substances are there, reminiscent of foam and carbon plate,” she says. “Manufacturers are striving to search out that subsequent 5 per cent.”
Brown, who serves because the CEO and director of expertise for Theia from his residence in Kingston, believes in a vibrant future for markerless movement seize with the development of AI. “I feel we’re simply scratching the floor proper now, with solely a certain quantity of information being utilized,” says Brown. “It’ll be completely different in 5 years. We wish our product to succeed in each runner, not simply elite athletes, to assist them discover the appropriate shoe primarily based on their biomechanics.”
