Once you see your favorite skilled athletes shattering world data or reaching private bests, your consideration naturally gravitates towards the athlete and the footwear on their toes. Take, for example, Kelvin Kiptum’s world file on the 2023 Chicago Marathon. Apart from 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 hooked up 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 information. Right this moment, Theia stands as a beacon of innovation within the biomechanics business, 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 anticipate it to develop into what it’s in the present day. 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 could be difficult, particularly when you must pave the best way,” says Brown. “I knew there needed to be a less complicated technique than inserting tons of markers on athletes. I wanted to discover a option to acquire extra information and revolutionize analysis.”
Brown acknowledges that his product wasn’t an in a single day success; it took practically 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 research, receiving kinetic information in minutes relatively than days.
“We accomplished a analysis venture with practically 1,000 members in a single day,” says Brown in disbelief. “A activity of that magnitude would have beforehand taken us six months. We thought it was inconceivable.”
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 improvement the place biomechanics information 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 impression 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 occasions after we didn’t have time to gather information, however now markerless expertise supplies it shortly with out the additional effort.”
In keeping 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 yr. “With Theia, we deal with working economic system—understanding which footwear are most effective for our athletes to fine-tune future merchandise,” says Healey.
When requested about the way forward for the footwear business, Healey doesn’t anticipate important modifications. “I consider it’s about optimization and personalization. The important thing substances are there, resembling 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 shiny future for markerless movement seize with the development of AI. “I feel we’re simply scratching the floor proper now, with solely a specific amount of information being utilized,” says Brown. “It’ll be totally different in 5 years. We wish our product to succeed in each runner, not simply elite athletes, to assist them discover the correct shoe primarily based on their biomechanics.”