Protecting Athletes Step by Step During the Paris Olympics

Published by Rogers Corporation
Elastomeric Material Solutions

The 2024 Paris Summer Olympic Games will captivate audiences worldwide in the coming weeks, and part of that excitement will center around the new and innovative technology applications utilized in this year’s games. Many of these technologies are enabled by materials that Rogers Corporation manufactures, including applications in footwear, 5G wireless infrastructure, renewable energy, and more.

As athletes from around the world converge on Paris for the 2024 Olympics, their skill, dedication, and years of intense training will take center stage. An often-overlooked factor in these athlete’s success is their gear, especially their footwear. In intense competitions including track and field, soccer, handball, tennis, rugby, and more, footwear is a crucial extension of an athlete’s ability to compete at the highest level. Beyond fit or aesthetics, athletic footwear functionality must support performance and mitigate injury through design and materials to help athletes achieve their Olympic dreams.

What materials enhance athletic shoes?

Athletic footwear supports performance by optimizing energy transfer during movement, providing better stability, traction, and shock absorption, and helping to reduce injuries. In activities like track and field, soccer, or handball, there is added strain on the lower limbs and feet. Athletic shoes are designed to provide stability and protection for these body parts.

Rogers Corporation has been formulating unique urethane cushioning technologies which have been designed into top brands based on the needs of specific applications for over 70 years. Science is applied to every stride, focusing on designing, testing, and producing technology for the unique conditions of the shoe and its type of use. Rogers’ footwear technologies are lightweight, long-lasting, shock-absorbing, and provide energy return to lessen fatigue and underfoot pressure.

Most athletic shoes have the standard components of the upper shoe (including a toe box), the middle shoe (including the midsole), and the outsole (including the heel). These components can be made from a variety of materials that provide unique support for an athlete. Rogers’ material offerings include:

• PORON ® Vive – Body Responsive – Energy Activated Cushioning. This material can be found in the insole of many athletic shoes, especially running shoes. PORON Vive is often used as the built-in strobel layer, the fabric that lays in the bottom of the shoe, directly below the foot. This application is ideal for running shoes where the material must be responsive and provide cushioning and flexibility to absorb the shock of an athlete’s foot hitting the ground.
• XRD® Impact – Impact absorbing to keep you in the game. This material can be found in the midsole of a shoe, alleviating heel pressure to ensure an athlete experiences comfort during movement. It can also be found in the upper shoe of soccer cleats, providing comfort and breathability while protecting the side and top of the foot from impact, enhancing ball handling.
• PORON ® Performance – Cushioning built for endurance. This material can be found in the outsole of cleated footwear. It’s high-performance shock absorption is ideal for athletes who desire better traction and need to feel the ground without the hinderance of feeling the cleat.

PORON® Comfort and XRD® Impact technologies are sought after solutions that enable top tier footwear brands to support and protect athletes during intense activities.

Learn more about the benefits and applications of Rogers Corporation materials in footwear.

Related Products:
PORON Comfort, XRD Impact

Tags:
Footwear

Published on Jul 29, 2024

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