When you have the World's Fastest Man(TM) Usain Bolt on your books, you know he's going to generate a lot of attention no matter what he does. So Puma made the clever move of providing Bolt with some special kit for his first appearance in the 2010 IAAF Diamond League Series in Shanghai last weekend...
And thanks to our top friends at Puma, here at the SoccerBible we've finally got hold of a pair of the great man's Tricks-inspired running spikes...
Now the SoccerBible is the global authority when it comes to football boots and new football gear, so when other sports and icons start using soccer related collaborations we'll always do our upmost to bring them straight to you!
Dubbed the Puma Lava Spike, Bolt's race shoes follow the unique
colour combination and graphic style seen on the recently revealed Puma
PowerCat 1.10 Tricks and speedy Puma
v1.10 Tricks football boots!
Puma tell us these are one of the lightest sprint spikes on the market and provides the power and stability that Usain Bolt requires to run at his world record speed (we thought it was chicken nuggets?!) - but they can't be doing him any harm as he stormed to victory in the 200m with a time of 19.76 seconds.
Usain is no stranger to football, confessing to being a big Real Madrid fan, and has featured in several PR events alongside Cristiano Ronaldo, Manchester United and Real Madrid. At the Shanghai meet, the Jamaican superstar said:
“Football is one of my favourite sports and I’m looking forward to watching the World Cup this summer. Last year, I had a chance to meet Samuel Eto’o and some of the other African football players. It’s an honour to wear the same colours during the Shanghai meet that PUMA’s African football teams have been wearing throughout the year. This is one way that I can cheer them on from afar. Whether we play football or run track, we’re all united as part of PUMA family and as proud athletes representing our home countries.”
The "Lava" colour combination featured on these spike shoes and the Puma Tricks series follows on from Puma's Africa movement throughout 2010.
The colour
selections are visual metaphors, they have been inspired by the Heat of
the Sun, the Vast African Sky and the soil beneath - all powered by the
centre of the Earth.
The shoes feature several unique customisations for Usain. On the inner heel collar is the inscription "there can only be one", matched on the outer collar by Bolt's tag line "Who Faster?" (um... no one Mr. Bolt). Finally in between both of these inscriptions is a Jamaican flag tag label. Of course we won't confirm or deny the rumours that the man himself has been helping Puma design a super-fast super-light football boot....!
Completing the head-to-toe look, Puma set Bolt up with a unique Africa Unity inspired race singlet - featuring the same sky to earth colour and Puma's Unity Africa logo.
The Jamaican sprinter’s race singlet bears the same graphics as the Africa Unity Kit - the World’s first continental football kit - which many of Puma sponsored African football teams have been wearing to show solidarity for the continent of Africa.
The Puma Africa Unity Football Kit has been authorised by FIFA as the official 3rd kit for all of Puma's 13 sponsored African teams, four of which have qualified for World Cup (Cameroon, Algeria, Ghana and Ivory Coast).
And when he stepped up to collect his winners medal, it was a simple swap over to a full Puma Africa Unity shirt for the presentation...