Breaking the Rules: How Far Can Running Innovation Go?

Romain, RB stands for “Rule Breaker”. How did the idea of breaking the rules come about?It came out of conversations with athletes. We always want to push the boundaries of performance, but we are also tied to the regulations set by World Athletics. At some point, we started asking ourselves: what could we achieve if those rules didn’t exist? Why not simply try it?

What makes this particular project exciting for you personally?Honestly, this is the kind of project you dream about. We got to question almost everything that was considered right at the time, and then actually try our own ideas. Until the second or third prototype, very few people believed it could work, and that only made us more determined.

We trusted our team, the athletes and our own instincts. Step by step, we showed that PUMA could develop its own point of view. It wasn’t always easy, but that’s what makes it so rewarding.

Innovation means not letting doubts discourage you, while staying open-minded rather than stubborn. And doing that with a great team, for runners who feel the difference, is amazing.

The FAST-RB 2 still isn’t race legal. What opportunities does that freedom open up  for you as an instigator?We are breaking two World Athletics rules. Competition shoes must not exceed a stack height of 40 millimetres, and they may contain only one rigid element. With the FAST-RB 2, we go beyond the height limit and use two carbon-fiber plates instead of the three in the previous version. Their arrangement creates a kind of spring under the foot, which stores energy on landing and releases it at take-off.

In the second generation, that spring is larger and more powerful. The resulting trampoline effect lets runners go faster with the same effort, potentially saving two to four minutes over a marathon. We have also simplified the construction and cut the weight from almost 350 grams to just 250.

Who is a running shoe designed for if it can’t be used in official races?For runners who want to challenge themselves and keep improving. Maybe they’re chasing their personal best on Strava or competing with friends in their running community. They don’t need an official race or a podium to measure their progress.

Many runners keep that ambition even as they get older. Improving isn’t only about pace. It’s about enjoying every run. No podium needed. Just a smile and some road!”

How closely did you work with athletes during development?Very closely. We mainly worked with fast runners just below the absolute elite level. We didn’t want to frustrate our top athletes by giving them a shoe they wouldn’t be allowed to wear in official races.

One very practical request was to bring back laces, so runners could adjust the fit and support themselves. Their feedback also helped us calibrate the spring effect. After all, someone weighing 65 kilograms interacts with the construction differently than someone weighing 100 kilograms.

Now that you’ve broken so many rules, are there any left you’d still like to break?The road doesn’t end here. We are already working on more ideas in running, and the freedom to explore is even bigger in areas like football and training, where the rules leave far more room to imagine.

That freedom is a chance to try things no one has tried and to build bold products. At a time when many companies are settling for safe, proven solutions, PUMA wants to keep asking the question that started it all: what is possible when we stop accepting the limits we were given?