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What if The same pair of shoes were behind three marathon world records – and the extraordinary feat of the first marathon was accomplished in less than two hours?
The 2026 London Marathon is truly a historic event, thanks to the time recorded by Kenyan Sebastian Kimaro Sawi. He is the first athlete to complete the 26.2-mile race in under two hours, something long considered impossible for humans, crossing the finish line in 1 hour, 59 minutes and 30 seconds.
What made the London Marathon even more special was the performance of Ethiopian Yomif Kegelcha, who stopped the clock just 11 seconds after Sawi. Both performances broke the previous record of 2 hours and 35 seconds set by Kelvin Kiptum in Chicago in 2023.
These thunderous runs have been enriched with another twist. The crowds that filled the streets of the English capital witnessed another world record achieved by Ethiopian Tegist Assefa, who finished the women’s marathon in two hours, 15 minutes and 41 seconds.
Luxury shoes
Besides talent and lifelong training, Sawe, Kejelcha and Assefa have one more thing in common: They each wore a uniform. Adizero Adios Pro Evo 3 The shoe that Adidas made its debut On the eve of the London Marathon. (The shoes will also go on sale soon for $500, but only through The official adidas app.)
The shoe that propelled the three runners to world records is the lightest sports shoe model ever made by the German manufacturer. Weighing just 97 grams, the Evo 3 features carbon fiber elements integrated into the sole that improve the shoe’s rigidity. The Evo 3 uses Adidas Lightstrike Pro Evo foam, the company’s lightest and springiest composite material. The outsole features a rubber plate in the forefoot.
The new shoe was designed by a team led by Patrick Nava, the Italian engineer who joined Adidas in 2019 and has been heading the running department since last October. The Adizero Adios Pro Evo 3 is the result of a long development process between tests conducted in the company’s laboratories at its headquarters in Herzogenaurach, Germany (about 120 miles north of Munich) and high-altitude field tests in Kenya and Ethiopia that captured the sensations and reactions of athletes.
“It was a long process, because at the highest level, every detail really matters, so we measured everything down to the nanogram,” Nava says.
Step stones
The world of running has arrived at this new era of the sport with the first road test of the new shoes. Adidas has been in fierce competition with Nike for years. The Oregon company has its own break2 A project to make shoes that enable runners to break the two-hour mark. In 2017, Olympic champion Eliud Kipchoge ran Marathon in 2 hours and 24 seconds in Monza, Italy. He then cleared the two-hour mark two years later In Vienna, AustriaWhen he stopped the watch at 1 hour, 59 minutes and 40 seconds. This time was not considered an official world record due to the peculiar race conditions: it was not part of an officially sanctioned race, and his pacemaker took turns running with him.
But Kipchoge’s run remains a milestone in approaching the historic time set by Sawi, who, under the guidance of his coach Claudio Berardelli, dedicated the past two years of his life to this challenge. This is his fourth victory in the marathon, and he underwent doping tests during the entire preparation period in order to remove possible doubts about his unprecedented performance.
This story was originally published by Wired ItalyIt was translated from Italian.