Puma Denies Its Carbon-Plated Shoes Cause Injuries After Abby Steiner Lawsuit
The company pushed back on claims that its shoes increased injury risk.
Six days after world champion sprinter Abby Steiner sued Puma alleging that its shoes caused career-ending injuries, the German shoe giant is pushing back. “Puma is aware that a case has been filed. Unfortunately, we cannot comment on active litigation,” a Puma spokesperson said in a statement to Front Office Sports.
“However, we strongly deny any allegation that our performance products cause injuries. ” Steiner’s lawsuit, filed April 24 in Massachusetts Superior Court against both Puma and the Mercedes F1 Team, claimed that the trainers and spikes she wore from them were “defective” and “unsafe” by increasing injury risk through their design and use of carbon fiber plate and nitrofoam technology. Steiner was a star high school and college sprinter who signed with Puma in 2022.
Her pro career fell apart over the next three years as she suffered a series of foot injuries that led to at least three surgeries. Her lawsuit says that she is now unable to run competitively at the professional or Olympic levels. In its statement, Puma said that its shoes were “worn by athletes performing at the top of their game in distance running and track and field, breaking records.
” It also cited world records broken by Puma athletes in the women’s 60-meter hurdles (Devynne Charlton), men’s pole vault (Mondo Duplantis) and women’s high jump (Yaroslava Mahuchikh). “We consistently collaborate with our athletes to provide products that meet their needs,” the Puma spokesperson continued. Mercedes-Benz Grand Prix, which Steiner’s suit says is involved in the development and distribution of various Puma shoes , told FOS that it had “nothing to comment re ongoing legal proceedings.