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STORY: These shoes were designed just for Olympic hurdles champion Karsten Warholm.

Called the 'Berserker', they were created with the help of his sponsor, Puma.

The shoes have a spike at the front specially adapted to Warholm's running pattern and the way he lands after a taking a hurdle.

The development of the shoes took around 12 months of work and only a handful were created.

Here's Puma's head of product line management Jose van der Veen.

"We've been through many iterations. And so, you know, unlike other brands where we make a spike and then we give it to an athlete to test, we actually invited the athletes into our product creation process."

Shoe companies are investing heavily in technology each year to give athletes an edge, with what they develop usually crossing over into the consumer market.

Van der Veen says shoe technology can give athletes a marginal gain of between 1 to 2%.

That translates into tenths of a second... easily enough to make a difference between gold and silver.

"When we look at the sprint spike, I mean, that is the margin that determines a winner or not, because the margin of victory is so small in track and field."

Shoe companies have to design within the World Athletics regulations to ensure athletes aren't gaining too much of an advantage.

And while shoe technology has been around in one form or another for the better part of a century, it has accelerated rapidly in the last few years.

Still, former 100 metre Olympic champion Linford Christie says competing is about more than what you wear on your feet.

"I wore the LA Puma Star. And to me, we thought that was technology. // "You know, the shoes helped me to feel more confident. But I think this generation, they're relying on the shoes, if they haven't got the shoes, they don't think they're going to run fast. And I think that's where we differ. But they have no excuse not to run fast anymore, because they have it all."