Wow!
The 2024 London Marathon was run yesterday (yes, same week as the Boston Marathon) and it came with a World Record!
It was a “women’s only” World Record, which means a record obtained in a race without male pacemakers.
The “traditional” women World Record belongs to Tigst Assefa with a time of 2:11:53 – so approximately 4 minutes faster.
The male race was won by Alexander Munyao in a time of 2:04:01.
5 out of 6 podiums places were taken by adidas’ athletes
In one of the most important marathons of the year, possibly the most popular in Europe, the podium was almost completely cleaned by adidas’ athletes.
Aside from Kenesisa Bekele, who run in a pair of Anta shoes, 4 of the 6 top spots were claimed by runners wearing adidas latest marathon racer: the Adios Pro Evo 1; the $500 shoe that apparently can only be worn for one race before losing its characteristics.
Another adidas claims position 3 in the women’s race, and it is adidas previous top marathon racer, the Adios Pro 3 which was released in 2022.
Where was Nike in all this? It’s such a new feeling not seeing any of the Oregon brand’s shoes on the podium.
At the beginning of the week in Boston, we saw the Adidas Pro Evo 1 win the men’s race, with the Nike Alphafly 3 in second position and the adidas Adios Pro 3 in third. In the women’s race, a new race prototype from On won the race, with Under Armour and Puma claiming the second and third position respectively.
As usual the question is the same: are the rest of the supershoes catching up with Nike (who used to dominate the podiums just a few years ago), or simply other brands are increasingly signing more competitive runners in their roster?
What do you think? What shoe would you wear to beat your PR this year?