The team tested the exosuit on nine young male runners, none of whom were considered to be elite athletes. They got three-minute training sessions on how the exosuit works before they ran for brief bursts on a treadmill to familiarize themselves with the way it feels to wear. 

They then sprinted outside in a straight line for 200 meters twice, once wearing the exosuit and once without. They rested for no less than half-hour between trials.

On average, the participants managed to run the space 0.97 seconds faster after they were wearing the suit than after they weren’t. 

The researchers observed that the less time it took runners to finish the space, the more steps they took, suggesting that the exosuit helps shorten the sprint time by increasing the frequency of the runner’s steps.

Buoyed by their findings, the researchers have set themselves ambitious goals. They’re working on a customized exosuit for Kyung-soo Oh, a former national elite runner in South Korea who had retired, in a bid to beat the world record for running 100 meters. The present men’s record is 9.58 seconds, set by Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt in 2009.