Science behind Adidas' $500 shoe that saw man break world record with sub 2 hour marathon
Last weekend, an athlete became the first ever person to run a marathon in under two hours.
Sabastian Sawe took part in the challenge at the London Marathon on Sunday (April 26) which saw him break the world record for the fastest marathon ever run.
So, what shoes was the runner wearing for his history making race? It turns out the shoes in question were the Adidas Adizero Adios Pro Evo 3, launched just days before the marathon took place.
Costing around $500, the shoes weigh just 97 grams - which is incredibly light for a running shoe.
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Speaking to the Independent, Patrick Nava, Adidas’s general manager for running, said that getting a shoe under 100 grams has previously been an ‘almost mythical barrier’.
He continued: “There’s been historical literature over the last 15 years that says for every 100 grams you can shave off in terms of weight, you can increase your running economy by one per cent - but when you cross the 100 grams, you start being in the territory where it actually doesn’t matter that much.”
Nava went on to say: “But the weight - the diminishing weight, was a means to an end. The point was to create the fastest shoe, which happens also to be the lightest.”
Charlotte Heidmann, who is in charge of the Adidas performance-focused Adizero category, explained that ‘every single detail of the shoe’ was looked into in a bid to make it the fastest shoe in the world.
She continued: “Starting with the midsole, which is usually the heaviest part of the shoe, we were able to decrease the weight by 50% compared to the is Pro Evo Two, which is already huge and helped us a lot when it comes to the performance that we wanted to achieve.”
Heidmann added: “We always take inspiration from the pinnacle performance product. We need to take the learnings and see how we can distribute, for instance, the energy ring or components into shoes that actually target a wider range of consumers, maybe the marathon runner who's running four hours.”
Following his victory, Kenyan-born Sawe celebrated the achievement.
Speaking after the marathon, he said: “I’m so happy to be in London running a world record. I’m so excited. I didn’t believe but I was well prepared and the training I’ve done the results have come now.”
He went on to say: “It means a lot to me and my family and also to my country. It shows that my country produced big talents and they are now cheering for what results have come today and they are happy.”