Athletes attempt to break two-hour marathon barrier wearing custom-engineered Nike trainers

Designers from Nike describe how they created a shoe that helped Kenyan runner Eluid Kipchoge to come within seconds of the two-hour marathon barrier in this exclusive movie produced by Dezeen.

In an event staged by the Nike Breaking2 project in Monza, Italy on 6 May, Kipchoge fell short of the two-hour mark. But his finishing time of two hours and 25 seconds was almost three minutes faster than the official world record of 2:02:57, set by Dennis Kimetto in Berlin in 2014.

The early-morning attempt took place at the Autodromo Nazionale Monza near Milan, which hosts the Formula One Italian Grand Prix each year.

The athletes ran around a 2.5-kilometre loop of the racetrack, which was chosen to host the event because of Northern Italy's low winds and mild temperatures.

Kipchoge ran alongside half-marathon world-record holder Zersenay Tadese of Eritrea and two-time Boston Marathon champion Lelisa Desisa of Ethiopia, but was the only athlete to complete the 26.2 mile distance.

Read more on Dezeen: www.dezeen.com/?p=1085617

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