Shoes, pacesetting in focus in Chicago Marathon

The marathon world records have steadily fallen since the first officially recognized best time of 2:55:18.4 set on July 24, 1908 by Johnny Hayes of the USA.

But the fall of the women’s record a fortnight ago at the Berlin Marathon was astounding for the time shaved.

The blistering time of 2 hours, 11 minutes 53 seconds set by Ethiopia’s Tigst Assefa was inside the previous record by a massive two minutes.

Training, shoe technology and pacesetting have been attributed for the increasing fast times in marathon racing. 

Besides sporting Adidas’s newest super shoe, the $500 (Sh72,000) feather-light Adizero Adios Pro Evo 1, one other thing of significance in Assefa’s run that shaded Brigid Kosgei’s world record of 2:14:04 set in 2019 was the pacesetting.

Her male pacesetter Girmay Birhanu Gebru (PB 2:05:49), who ushered her along for almost the entire distance before letting her through the Brandenburg Gate, was a man in focus too.

Leading sports manufacturing firms like Nike, Adidas and Asics among others, have battled to outwit each other in coming up with new, high-tech running shoes almost every year.

Besides Adidas feather-light Adizero Adios Pro Evo 1 that Assefa used, Eliud Kipchoge sealed a record fifth victory in Berlin two weeks ago with the Nike Alphafly Next% 3 that came out last year, offering a thicker insole and an even more dramatic arch than its predecessor.

Asics launched the Asics Metaspeed Sky, its answer to Nike’s Vaporfly, in 2021 but later came the Sky+, a revamp that tried and succeeded to find parity with the competition last year.

It’s the shoes that Vincent Kipkemoi used to finish second at Berlin Marathon in 2:03:13 behind Kipchoge in 2:02:42 as the Olympic champion fell short of breaking his own World Record time set at the same course last year in 2:01:09, using Nike Alphafly Next% 2.

Kelvin Kiptum, who is the second fastest marathoner of all times, having achieved the feat of 2:01:25 in London in April, and third fastest woman in history, Ruth Chepng’etich ( 2:14:18), could take a shot at the men’s and women’s world records in Chicago. Both Kenyans will use Nike Alphafly Next% 3 shoes, similar to the model Kipchoge run in at Berlin.

Men’s defending champion Benson Kiptruto said that if the pace is good there will be some fast times on Sunday.

Pacesetting has been key in helping bring marathon records down.

When legendary Paul Tergat became the first man to run the marathon under two hours and five minutes when he won in 2003 Berlin in 2:04:55, he had pacesetter Sammy Korir to thank.

Tergat says he talked to Korir to pace him. “I will forever appreciate his contribution to that world record...he remains a good friend.”

Tergat says he couldn’t have achieved the world record without the role played by pacesetters.

After breaking the two hours barrier at 2019 INEOS 1:59 Challenge in Vienna, Austria, Kipchoge extolled the role pacemakers have played in his marathon career where he has 11 wins from 14 appearances in the World Marathon Majors.

“The pacemakers will play a vital role on the day in terms of not only setting an even, constant pace but also protecting me from the wind,” said Kipchoge in a past interview. “I would not have achieved all these records without my pacemakers, who are part of my game plan.”

Patrick Makau, who made history as the second Kenyan to break a world marathon record, achieving the feat in Berlin 2011 in 2:03:38, said pacesetters help athletes keep focus during the race.