Paula Radcliffe lowered the women’s marathon record twice for a total improvement of almost exactly 2.5 percent over the previous record her record of 2:15:25, set in 2003, still stands. RELATED: Listen to a preview of this week’s “Runner’s World Show,” in which Willey narrates Tadese undergoing a treadmill test at Nike headquarters.īut Nike is instead looking to carve a full three minutes, or about 2.5 percent, off the record-an unusual, though not entirely unprecedented, leap.

“I want to be part of it.” Though the company hasn’t disclosed how much the project will cost, or what financial incentives the athletes will have, it’s a safe bet the sums involved are substantial. “I know one day will be broken,” Tadese told us through an interpreter. įor the three athletes involved, agreeing to forgo the lucrative spring marathon season is a calculated risk-but one with a possibly historic payoff. Last week, Runner’s World editor-in-chief David Willey and I spent three days at Nike HQ in Beaverton, Oregon, watching the athletes and meeting some of the 20-person team, which includes designers, engineers, coaches, and physiologists, that Nike has assigned to the project. So Close! Kipchoge Runs a 2:00:25 in the Breaking2 Attempt held in Monza, Italy. Nike announced the ambitious plan, called Breaking2, on Monday.

That’s 4:41 per mile-a stunning pace that nonetheless left Kimetto more than a half-mile from the finish line at the two-hour mark. Nobody has come close to that the current world record is 2:02:57, set by Dennis Kimetto of Kenya in 2014. Their goal is to run 1:59:59 or faster, a pace of 4:34 per mile for 26.2 miles. Nike is embarking on a plan to break one of running’s most formidable barriers-the two-hour marathon-and do it with breathtaking urgency.Īfter more than two years of research, preparation and testing, three top distance runners- Eliud Kipchoge of Kenya, Lelisa Desisa of Ethiopia, and Zersenay Tadese of Eritrea-have officially started their Nike-backed build-up toward a sub-two-hour attempt sometime in the spring, the exact timing and location of which have yet to be finalized.

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