"The Guardian reports on the London Marathon's tech race: Nike faces competition in the battle of super shoes"

When the world’s greatest distance athletes take part in the London Marathon on Sunday, there will be a battle for technological superiority among the runners. In addition to potential world records and other storylines, the race will also feature a multimillion-dollar subplot involving brand against brand, and super shoe against super shoe.

Since the creation of these shoes in 2016, Nike has dominated the marathon, with their athletes taking the majority of podium places in the six major marathons in 2019. However, there are signs that this is starting to change, with Adidas and On making significant advances in their super shoe technology.

Geoff Burns, a biomechanics expert and sport physiologist, has tested a lot of shoe brands and foams and noted that while most brands have super shoes containing Pebax foam and a carbon plate, there is still plenty of room for innovation. Burns says that energy rods inside the midsole of Adidas’ Pro 3s, for example, can move independently, providing a boost to runners.

British athlete Chris Thompson, who will be wearing On’s shoes during the London Marathon, notes that super shoes have a huge impact on performance, comparing it to Formula One. As the science shows, top-ranked male athletes can receive up to three minutes of improvement, while those in the 2:10-2:15 range may see up to four minutes of improvement. Amateur runners in the 3:30 to four-hour range can expect even more significant benefits, with super shoes potentially cutting their time by over five minutes.

Burns warns, however, that not all runners will benefit equally from the same shoes, with one experiment showing different athletes responding differently to different Asics super shoes. Nevertheless, super shoes will likely feature heavily in the London Marathon, with around half of the 45,000 participants expected to wear them.

Shortly before lunchtime, what organisers have hailed as potentially the best women’s distance race could be reaching an epic finale. With the world record-holder, Brigid Kosgei, rising star Yalemzerf Yehualaw – both sponsored by Nike – against Adidas’s Olympic champion Peres Jepchirchir, first place, a world record and brand bragging rights will be on the line.

Not everyone is a fan of this new era, which has led to multiple world records being decapitated and the benchmark for a good time radically altered. But leading coach Matt Yates says most in the sport have accepted the new reality.

“What we are seeing now is one of the sexiest things that has happened to running in a long time,” he says. “And make no mistake: It’s a big deal for brands to win the London Marathon, because these days it not only means front page pictures, but people talking about their shoes too.”