Sports

Nike’s Newest Running Sneakers: One Is Banned, One Isn’t

  • Company deploys its controversial technology in new shoe line
  • World Athletics cleared Nike’s carbon-fiber shoes for Olympics
Shoes from Nike’s new Air Zoom line.Nike

Nike Inc. is expanding its controversial running innovation -- the technology that prompted track’s international governing body to rewrite its rules on sneakers -- to new sports and new products.

The company unveiled Wednesday a footwear series featuring its new foam, carbon-fiber plates and small pockets of air underneath the forefoot. The Air Zoom line includes a high-end running shoe, which the company said will be allowed in competition under the new World Athletics guidelines, and a more affordable running sneaker, which won’t.