In a highly anticipated decision in the running world, the world governing body for track and field announced Friday that Nike’s Vaporfly shoe, the chosen footwear of the world’s fastest marathoners but one that has drawn scrutiny for its performance-enhancing effects, will be permitted during the Tokyo Olympics.

Officials sidestepped making a ruling on whether the design of the shoes — extra-thick soles and springlike, carbon-fiber shanks that spring runners forward — gives an unfair advantage to runners who wear them. They chose instead to issue rule modifications that they said were designed “to provide greater clarity to athletes and shoe manufacturers around the world and to protect the integrity of the sport,” though only at the elite level.

The decision highlights issues that often confront governing bodies for various sports: how to balance technological innovation with the history and integrity of competition, and how to apply those rules to participants who pursue the same activities simply for fun. Just as golf has drivers that might be tolerated in a round among friends but not at the Masters, running now has two classifications of shoes.

In this case, the international federation, World Athletics, said that starting on April 30, elite runners cannot run in prototype shoes that had not been available for any competitor to buy on the open market for at least four months, and footwear must meet certain design specifications. The sole cannot be thicker than 40 millimeters and there cannot be more than one springlike shank in the sole.