Martin Fiz, world marathon champion in 1995, compared him to Federer and Nadal. the kenyan Eliud Kipchoge surprised the world with his new record in Berlin. He takes 200 steps per minute with a 180 cm stride. He sleeps 8 hours, drinks 3 liters of water a day and runners sigh for his shoes. EFE dissects you the science of their Nike, whose market price is about 300 euros -299.99-.
Kipchoge based his performance on the exceptional natural conditions he had to run in but also on a demanding work discipline that he continued with his team, the NN Running Team, in Kaptagat camp (Kenya), about 25 kilometers from where his family lives. .
The Kenyan athlete goes to bed at nine in the evening, sleeps for eight hours until five in the morningtaking a nap, drinking about three liters of water a day, taking care of nutritionally proportioned food, exercising twice a day and fulfilling himself on a personal level with reading and philosophy.
At the sports level, he chooses competitions very well. He does not compete much, only in selected races, and he does so with what he considers the best technology adapted to his physical condition.
Always loyal to Nike, the brand that dresses and accompanies him, Eliud always wears his models for the best marathons in the world. Shoes, depending on the surface, the footing and the goal sought, are a basic tool for an elite runner. The ones used by Kipchoge in the last Berlin Marathon (2h01:09), where he broke all the physical laws of athletics, are the Nike Air Zoom Alphafly NEXT% 2, designed for speed in a long-distance competition .
“This is one of the tallest Nike shoes on the market and the one with the most cushioning. It has a sufficiently pronounced curvature that, by crushing it, you can have a larger catapult. Also, the front zoom bounces a lot, it’s a piece of air, it has nylon fibers, and when crushed it’s like a spring mattress. The harder you step, the more you bounce. If you crush the central plate and the one in front, with another spring, the effect is doubled,” said Javi Moro, material manager for Corredor magazine, to EFE.
The world record (2h01:39) achieved in Berlin in 2018 was achieved with the Nike Vaporfly Elite Bright Crimson, a completely different model from the Nike Alphafly White/Pink with which he lost two hours (1h59:40) in ‘ Ineos 1:59’ challenge, in Vienna in 2019, although the brand was not approved due to the conditions in which it was produced.
“The latest model is the same as the 2019 but in a second version. They increased the back, they increased the decrease, put the foot in front and it was more stable. The one he used in Vienna, on the curves, was too crooked. Now it has gained efficiency and stability”, Moro confessed.
From the sports brand they ensure that “the sole is designed based on data from hundreds of runners” and the shoe has “various traction angles located where they are most needed to -offer grip from takeoff to landing”.
“The shoe is designed for athletes looking for their personal marathon best and, in the case of elite runners, thinking they can break their records,” said Elliott Heath, product manager for Nike Running Footwear.
The asphalt shoes used by Kipchoge in the last Berlin Marathon, which are orange, are sold on Nike’s website at a price of 299 euros. With them, the Kenyan athlete reached 200 steps per minute with a step of 180 centimeters.
In specialized stores such as Bikila, in Madrid, they assure EFE that Kipchoge’s work has caused more customers to ask about his shoes in recent days, although in many cases, as famous runners who without much ambition at the time, they advise against it because they will never know. how to bring out maximum performance.
“It’s a very good shoe, one of the best on the market, but This is a very high-end shoe intended for a specific runner who has the ability to run very fast and can take full advantage of it. Despite its price, it is selling very well, although not only now, but since July, when it was sold,” they reported to Bikila.
Martín Fiz, marathon world champion (Gothenburg, 1995) and European champion (Helsinki, 1994), Eliud Kipchoge never ceases to amaze.
“You win everything you want to do. He shows up when he needs to show up and now he’s going to disappear again to do another one of his crazy things in a few moments. Everything he has done is amazing and his success can be extrapolated to two other monsters like Roger Federer or Rafa Nadal. Kipchoge is a monster of athletics,” he declared.
Kipchoge dreams of two hours in an official marathon, although the challenge is difficult, despite the fact that he has already lowered that mythical barrier once. It was on October 12, 2019, with a time of 1:59:40, with a race tailored to his needs, the “Ineos 1.59”, where he had external aids not allowed by the International Athletics Federation ( IAAF) and, therefore, its brand cannot be approved.
He runs behind a speeding car for him to beat the two-hour wall and is surrounded by seven ‘hares’ in arrow formation to protect him from the wind. The seven runners were part of a team of 41 top athletes who took turns throughout the race to support him.
His closest goal is to win the ‘six majors’, the six best marathons in the world. So far he has won in London, Berlin, Chicago and Tokyo. You have Boston and New York left.
Another challenge is to repeat the gold medals achieved in Rio de Janeiro 2016 and Tokyo 2021 at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Source: La Verdad
I am Ida Scott, a journalist and content author with a passion for uncovering the truth. I have been writing professionally for Today Times Live since 2020 and specialize in political news. My career began when I was just 17; I had already developed a knack for research and an eye for detail which made me stand out from my peers.
