Tigist Assefa breaks the women's marathon world record in her new £400 Adidas one-off super trainers. Photo: Reuters/Annegret Hilse
The battle for supremacy among the biggest running brands intensified on Sunday when the women's marathon world record was broken by a pair of new £400 superlight Adidas trainers that are supposedly designed for just one run.
Ethiopia's Tigist Assefa crossed the finish line in 2 hours 11 minutes 53 seconds, beating Brigid Kosgei's 2019 record of 2 hours 14 minutes 04 seconds by more than two minutes. A former 800m athlete, Assefa ran her first marathon just last year before winning the race in Berlin in 2022, the third-fastest women's race in history at the time.
Kosgei's record, which itself breaking Paula Radcliffe's 2003 world record of 2 hours 15 minutes 25 seconds, also set in the era of the new super-soft carbon-coated running shoes that arrived in 2016 with the innovations of Nike's Vaporfly and then Alphafly.
The shoe's benefits, which amount to as much as four minutes per marathon among elite runners and even more for recreational runners, have long been widely recognized, and Nike athletes briefly dominated the marathon with their athletes taking 31 of 36 podium finishes. places in six 2019 specialties.
Other brands, however, are working hard to catch up, and with almost all of them now creating their own carbon-heavy shoes, Adidas believes they have pushed the envelope even further boundaries, releasing the lightest and fastest model.
The Adios Pro Evo 1 weighs just 138 grams and even has a large 39mm heel. They feature a new foam midsole with carbon rods inside that are designed to propel the runner forward. Assefa, who kissed and then lifted her shoe above her head after a run that was almost four minutes faster than her win in the same race last year, said they were like «nothing I've felt» before. “These are the lightest racing shoes I've ever worn and the feeling of running in them is an incredible experience,” she said.
Assefa's Adios Pro Evo 1 features a new foam midsole with carbon rods inside that are designed to propel the runner forward. Photo: Reuters/Lisi Niesner
The shoe, which was used for the first time in major races and has until now only been released selectively, will become more available this week, albeit with a big double caveat. Not only are they significantly more expensive than the super shoe's usual £200-250 retail price, but according to Runners World, the first 521 pairs released earlier this month included a disclaimer in the packaging. Apparently it said the shoes were only designed to last «one race — that is, one marathon — plus familiarization time,» which has already raised questions about the sustainability and environmental validity of the product.
Whatever their exact nature may be characteristics. Moreover, it is clear that this was Assefa's exceptional athletic achievement.
Running alongside the men on Sunday, she spent much of the race alongside Jared Ward, the American who finished sixth in the men's Olympic marathon in 2016. She beat Charlotte Purdue by almost 11 minutes, who became the second fastest British woman in history. in 2 hours 22 minutes 14 seconds and finished ninth.
“I knew I wanted to break the world record, but I never thought I would do it this time. It was the result of hard work,” said Assefa, 26, whose time has set the bar for next year's Paris Olympics and almost certainly secured her spot on Ethiopia's Olympic team.
“Now I have checked the box. The decision is not mine, but the officials'. The national committee should select me for the team.»
Kenya's Sheila Chepkirui (left) and Assefa hold a running shoe before the race. Photo: Luciano Lima/Getty Images
The men's race was won for the fifth time by Kenyan two-time Olympic champion Eliud Kipchoge, who finished outside his world record but still ran the course wearing Nike Alphafly shoes. the eighth fastest marathon in history in 2 hours 2 minutes 42 seconds. Kipchoge was on track for the world record after running the first half of the race in 60 minutes 22 seconds.
«I had some hiccups, but that's the nature of the race,» he said. “I expected to break the record, but it didn’t happen. Every race is a lesson. I’ll put all my experience from 21 marathons into next year’s Olympic Games in Paris and try to be the first to win for the third time, but I’ll also be happy about the podium.”
Свежие комментарии