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Eliud Kipchoge and Nike’s sub-two hour marathon attempt set for Friday night

By Joshua Sadlock

Aug 21, 2016; Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; Eliud Kipchoge (KEN) celebrates after winning the marathon in 2:08:44 in the marathon during the Rio 2016 Summer Olympic Games at Sambodromo. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports
Aug 21, 2016; Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; Eliud Kipchoge (KEN) celebrates after winning the marathon in 2:08:44 in the marathon during the Rio 2016 Summer Olympic Games at Sambodromo. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports /
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Three elite marathoners, including Eliud Kipchoge, will try to break two hours in the marathon on Friday night.

The event has been billed as a record-setting attempt, a science experiment of sorts, and most importantly a major marketing effort for sports giant Nike. For the past year, if not longer, the company has been investing in three elite marathoners — Eliud Kipchoge, Zersenay Tadese, and Lelisa Desisa — and an attempt to become the first to break two hours in the marathon. With a fleet of pacers and spring-loaded shoes, the trio will take to a Formula One track in Italy on Friday night and try to do what no one has ever done before.

Nike has worked to make the lightest, most responsive marathon flats in the history of professional running. These shoes will allegedly return more energy per stride for the runners. Pacers will cycle through the pack, and will be guided by a pace vehicle that will drive at the exact 4:34 pace per mile (imagine you go to the track and run a 68-second lap. Then go do it 104 more times) needed to run a marathon in under two hours. Because there are so many external sources of aid for the runners and the race will take place on a closed loop, the time will not count for a world record. The world record in the marathon is currently held by Kenyan Dennis Kimetto at 2:02:57, set at the Berlin Marathon in 2014.

Since 2008, the marathon world record has barely come down a minute, so it is unlikely anyone is about to take three minutes off the time, regardless of the aid Nike is providing. This is a pure PR ploy by Nike, and they have been building up the event on social media for months. The effort will be streamed on Twitter on Friday night, with the gun going off at 11:45 ET.

Experts are very skeptical about the likelihood these runners can break two hours in the marathon. Nike has not publicized any training runs at marathon pace approaching 20 miles, the distance where racing really starts in a marathon. A body has the ability to store enough energy for approximately two hours of running, so perhaps the wall that many normal marathoners hit around 20 miles will not apply to these elites.

If any of these runners break two in the marathon, the safest bet would be Kipchoge, the Kenyan Olympian. He has the best range of any runner since the great Haile Gebrselassie or Kenenisa Bekele. Kipchoge is a two-time Olympic medalist at 5,000 meters and was the 2016 gold medalist in the marathon. His personal best of 2:03:05 is also the best of the bunch. It remains to be seen how long he can go at 2:00:00 pace and if he will drop out as soon as the pace drops. However unlikely a two-hour marathon is, seeing Nike try new things and broadcast them to the world is great for the sport of track and field.

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