adidas strikes back at Nike. Peres Jepchirchir wears adidas super shoe and sets women's-only half marathon WR

I don't understand the "women only" angle here - other than what it clearly must be which is an attempt to put some quick hype and validation onto the shoe. Fact is, it is the 14th fastest time by a woman. The "women only" is a nice attempt to make this more than it is for this reason. How often do women run HM in their own races outside a championship (like the World HM)? The answer is not often and in those races like the world HM they rarely race for time, rather wins.

"Striking back" is an interesting one. Adidas are now almost 3 years later on this - also behind every other brand that has provided some ammunition vs Nike this shoe war. Unless this shoe is actually better I'm not certain it is a "strike" rather the attempt at some kind of parity?

Really need to see an actual race with larger participation where both Vaporfly and adizero goes head to head. Otherwise this is meaningless and honestly the headlines seem like a lot of marketing work and little bit desperate.

her overall half PR from 2017 - I believe she wore one of the Takumi. models

Women-only records are significant because in mixed races the record setter can receive pacing help from male pacers all the way to the finish line. This is not possible in women-only races.

Les wrote:

Women-only records are significant because in mixed races the record setter can receive pacing help from male pacers all the way to the finish line. This is not possible in women-only races.

Yes thank you for that wonderful insight Les. And for example, in an event which is always "womens only" like any track event this would matter. But road racing is different - especially marathons which, aside from major championships, are always mixed gender. Example the owner of this website once pacemaked for Paula Radcliffe in Chicago. So the roadracing/marathon running/half marathon running is an exception here to what we see on the track.

So "womens only" just isn't that special sorry in this world of the sport. Of course at the end of the day male or female pacesetter the women still have to run the distance on her own two legs with her own heart and lungs doing the work. It's a cheap claim by adidas I'm sorry.

I didn’t see any Nike athletes in the field. This was a marketing ploy by Adidas to hype their shoes in a rare women’s only half.

It's absolutely an important distinction. Most major road races have an earlier start time for elite women. It's definitely deserves It's own category. It's simply not fair to compare it to someone who has a pre-planned wall of men pacing her.

How many Adidas athletes were at the Breaking2 thing? That's what brands do now.

You can thank Nike, btw.

Like Mo Farah and his one hour WR attempt? Lol .. sit down son

And yet women's -only records are recognized. And there definitely are women's-only road races. Yes, the athlete still has to run the race distance, but pacing is a significant aid to record-setting.

This super shoe era is weird.

Les wrote:

And yet women's -only records are recognized. And there definitely are women's-only road races. Yes, the athlete still has to run the race distance, but pacing is a significant aid to record-setting.

Yes, but so is the actual worlds fastest HM by a woman. Also are we saying that any woman who has run a marathon in which she was passed by a man that her times are invalid because she may have been "helped" in that instance.

The point here that adidas claim they have broken a WR because of a shoe is a non-valid one. Kind of simple.

Seems like a decent shoe tbh. Definitely looks different than nike's, especially when in use. Saw a slo mo vid on instagram that showed minimal squish of the midsole, but it does seem to work here..

PalaisDePrague wrote:

So "womens only" just isn't that special sorry in this world of the sport. Of course at the end of the day male or female pacesetter the women still have to run the distance on her own two legs with her own heart and lungs doing the work. It's a cheap claim by adidas I'm sorry.

The claim wasn't made by Adidas. Perhaps you haven't been following the sport closely, but back in 2011, the IAAF (as it was then known) decided to begin recognizing women-only records in road racing events. In fact, they consider those the "true" records, with mixed records a sub-category that they hope will eventually disappear. Here's a 2011 article on it:

title: "For Women’s Road Records, No Men Allowed"

And here's the World Athletics release after Jepchirchir's record:

title: "Jepchirchir smashes women-only half marathon world record in Prague"

You may well disagree with this decision (I'm guessing you probably do), but your claim that hyping a women-only record is some sort of Adidas publicity trick is completely contradicted by the facts.

Interesting I don't find the mixed gender records very exciting...

lol adidas shill, what a joke... imagine the record she could have set if she wore the next% or alphas...

but you can't because you're trapped by your inferiority complex.

Have you felt the Adios Pro? Some describe it as a good looking "boat anchor". It's like 2+ ounces heavier per show than a Next%. Even Seth DeMoor came away not too impressed. Unless the shoe the elites get is significantly different than the rest of us, her 1/2 performance is impressive. She would have run faster in Next%.

Shoe era wrote:

This super shoe era is weird.

It's called technical innovation. The new shoes may be a little faster than the old ones.

If that's the case, isn't that a good thing? Would you prefer if we ran in shoes with the same foam as 50 years ago?

Vaporflys only significantly help at the full marathon distance, at least for top athletes.

Because the shoes give a mechanical assist. Remember the spring runner?