1. Field of the Invention
The instant invention is related to a sports boot specifically adapted for sports that require a substantial mobility for the foot with respect to the leg for bending/extending movements, while also requiring a good retention of the ankle in the transverse direction.
2. Description of Background and Relevant Information
Sports of the above-mentioned type particularly include, although not exclusively, roller skating, and especially in-line roller skating, cross-country skiing, walking/hiking, snowboarding, and wake boarding, etc.
Presently known, especially with respect to the fields of skating, cross-country skiing, and walking, is a boot construction having a rigid frame constituted of a shell, at least one heel reinforcement, and a mobile rigid collar journalled about a substantially transverse axis on the heel reinforcement and surrounding the lower part of the athlete's foot.
Such a collar can pivot towards the front and towards the rear about its transverse journal axis, possibly against elastic means, and thus provide total freedom of movement, especially in the forward bending of the leg with respect to the foot.
The emergence of new, extreme practices in these sports, such as the practice known as "aggressive" in in-line roller skating and "free ride" in snowboarding, generates new requirements. Indeed, in these extreme practices, the athlete wants above all to execute jumps and acrobatic figures, and this requires a substantial transverse inclination of the ankle, both on the inner side as well as the outer side.
Thus, the problem consists of providing a sports boot that allows these contradictory requirements to be fulfilled, i.e., lateral or transverse retention of the ankle and a certain mobility in the same transverse direction, while still retaining the desired front/rear mobility for the ankle with respect to the foot.