It is one of the most hotly contested races at the Olympics – a battle of the big brands for supremacy with their record-obliterating “super shoes”.

Now, in an effort to catch up with giants Nike and Adidas, an upstart manufacturer from Switzerland has a new innovation: spray-on trainers. On’s novel “LightSpray” approach – inspired after its designer saw a Halloween spider’s web decoration – is moulded around an athlete’s foot by a robot in three minutes.

Hype around performance-enhancing carbon plates in trainer soles have sent sales surging and marathon times tumbling in recent years. On hope to enjoy a similar boost in business with its new £255 Cloudboom Strike LS trainer. It is the first major innovation to a shoe’s ‘upper’ – all parts or sections of the shoe above the sole – and will be worn by a host of distance runners in Paris next week.

There is no need for glue or even laces on the shoe, which could help power Kenyan Hellen Obiri to a long-distance medal at the Games, which open on Friday. Obiri had previously told the New York Times that she said “I can’t run with these” when she first saw them. However, she won the Boston Marathon earlier this year in a prototype.

Rather than a standard upper that can be made from 30 to 40 components, the LightSpray upper is made from a single length of thermoplastic filament.

The spray-on technology has helped On create one of the lightest running shoes on the market. The upper weighs just 30g, while the entire shoe weighs 170g.

“The ultra-thin LightSpray upper is precision-made for support, adaptable to the foot, seamless and lace-free, resulting in an exceptionally lightweight shoe,” On says.

Rival manufacturers dismiss speculation that the technology could boost performances comparable with improvements in race times since the arrival of “super shoes” in 2020. In that time, world records in every distance have been broken from the 5,000 metres upwards and, in the thicker road shoes, energy savings have been found to be around four per cent depending on the individual athletes.

Ethiopia’s Tigist Assefa took more than two minutes off the women’s world record in Berlin last year in Adidas’s £400 Adizero Adios Pro Evo 1 version.

Over shorter distances, “super spikes” are also set to become a talking point, with the likes of Nike having new, specialised designs for sprinters and middle-distance runners.

But On believes its new spray-on technology will help give athletes an extra edge. “This fitted upper eliminates all distractions to fully focus on what really matters: your run, your performance,” the brand claims.

Its makers claim the single material of the upper contributes to the trainer having “75 per cent fewer carbon emissions than On’s other racing shoes”.

“LightSpray marks a significant milestone for On, not only in creating high performance products but also the potential it has to move us towards a more sustainable, circular future.” said Marc Maurer, co-chief executive of On.

Other innovations in recent months include the Vivobarefoot, a prototype trainer that is 3D-printed from compostable materials. Camper also unveiled a modular trainer “simple enough to assemble and disassemble by customers”.

Cloudboom Strike LS trainers are made at On’s headquarters in Zurich, with the brand set to demonstrate the technology at an event ahead of the Games this week.