Nike has unveiled the aerodynamic shoe it hopes will get its athletes to achieve a sub-two-hour marathon ? a long-held dream of many runners.
The Zoom Vaporfly Elite is custom-engineered for the three athletes Nike is training for its Breaking2 race, which will take place later this year at the Italian Autodromo Nazionale Monza racetrack.
Nike's Zoom Vaporfly Elite is custom-engineered
The shoes are designed to optimise the performance of the chosen athletes ? Eliud Kipchoge of Kenya, Lelisa Desisa of Ethiopia and Zersenay Tadese of Eritrea ? who it's hoped will run the official marathon distance of 42.195 kilometres (26.2 miles) in under two hours.
The Nike Zoom Vaporfly Elite is designed to be supportive and efficient, cushioning runners from the pain caused by concrete and propelling them forwards. It is also ultra-lightweight, weighing in at just 185 grams, and has a distinctive heel that points upwards like the prow of a boat. The trainers will be used for its Breaking2 race which will take place later this year
"A shoe at 185 grams with this amount of cushioning has never been seen before," Nike innovation design director Stefan Guest told a press conference at Monza. "It's the fastest shoe ever, the lightest marathon shoe, but also with an incredible amount of cushioning."
On top of this sole, Nike's designers wanted to build a shoe that looked like a radical departure from what had come before. They looked to aerodynamics to create the shape of t...