Yahoo Sport 
The fastest shoes at the London Marathon – plus a surprising entry from the first Brit home
Ever since Eliud Kipchoge first attempted the Nike Breaking 2 project in 2017, the elite racing fields have been dominated by super shoes. Characterised by a high stack height (capped at 40mm by World Athletics) and a carbon fibre plate, they’re designed to be lighter, faster and more cushioned than traditional running shoes.
This year’s London Marathon was no exception. Along with delivering plenty of drama (from Kelvin Kiptum's course record to Sifan Hassan, the elite women’s winner, stopping twice), the likes of Nike and Adidas continued to dominate the podiums. So here are all the fastest shoes from this year’s race – along with a more surprising choice from Britain’s Emile Cairess.
Men’s podium
In the men’s race, Kenyan athlete Kelvin Kiptum ran to victory in 2:01:25, not only setting a course record, but becoming the second fastest marathoner in history (just 20 seconds off Kipchoge’s world record). On his feet? A Nike athlete, Kiptum opted for a pair of the Vaporfly Next% 2 – proving you don’t always need the latest and greatest development to bring home the win.
In second placem Geoffrey Kamworor, who ran a time of 2:04:23, was in the latest Nike marathon development shoe, the Alphafly Next% 3 prototype. The shoe is compliant with World Athletics rules, but Nike hasn’t shared any more details at this time.
And while Adidas dominated the men’s podium at the Boston Marathon last Monday, it was third place only for the Adizero Adios Pro 3 at London, with Tamirat Tola finishing in 2:04:59.
Women’s podium
In the women’s field, Dutch runner Sifan Hassan took the win in 2:18:33, despite doing almost everything wrong – from stopping to stretch, to almost getting knocked out by a motorbike. Like Kamworor, Hasan also wore Nike’s latest marathon development shoe.
Just behind her, finishing in 2:18:37, was Alemu Megertu, who opted for a pair of the new Nike Vaporfly Next% 3s in a pink and yellow colourway.
And just one second behind Megertu was Peres Jepchirchir, who, like Tola for the men’s, was sporting the Adidas Adios Pro 3s.
One to watch?
While the traditional super shoes certainly dominated the podiums, perhaps a more surprising choice came from Bradford-born runner Emile Cairess. He took to the streets in a pair of Adidas Takumi Sen 9, becoming the first British man home and finishing sixth overall.
While the Takumi Sen 9 include carbon rods for that super shoe snappiness we’ve come to love, they’ve got a more traditional stack height: 27mm in the forefoot and 33mm in the heel. To put this into perspective, the Alphafly has a 35mm stack in the forefoot and a 39mm stack in the heel, while the Adizero Adios Pro 3 has a 33m stack in the forefoot and a 39.9mm stack in the heel.
Adidas typically markets the Takumi Sen 9 as a half marathon shoe, so it’s certainly an unusual choice for Cairess in these days when the top super shoes dominate, but apparently he prefers their responsiveness. But it clearly paid off, with Cairess making the top ten in 2:08:07 in his first ever marathon.
You Might Also Like
