Kenyan wins Berlin Marathon in 2:04 with his insoles hanging out

One of the big talking points this week across the various running media sites is how Eliud Kipchoge from Kenya won the Berlin Marathon last weekend in a time of 2 hours and 4 minutes despite the fact that the insoles of his shoes came loose from as early as the one mile mark.

These are the six fastest marathon times on record eligible courses.

Fastest Marathoners on Record-Eligible Course: Men
Dennis Kimetto (Kenya)    2:02:57    Berlin, 2014
Emmanuel Mutai (Kenya)    2:03:13    Berlin, 2014
Wilson Kipsang (Kenya)    2:03:23    Berlin, 2013
Patrick Makau (Kenya)    2:03:38    Berlin, 2011
Haile Gebrselassie (Ethiopia)    2:03:59    Berlin, 2008
Eliud Kipchoge (Kenya)    2:04:00    Berlin, 2015

The question that everyone is asking is how fast could Kipchoge have run if he didn't have problems with his shoes? Would he have broken the world record which was 63 seconds faster? After the race, he said...“There are blisters on the left foot and my big toe is cut, with lots of blood”...which certainly suggests that it must have had an impact on his finish time.

As for the shoe, it would seem that it was a special type of prototype racing flat from Nike. Even though it had been 'tested' beforehand, the insoles weren't glued properly and the Kipchoge's powerful forefoot striking and paw-back motion caused the insole to fail and be pushed backwards as early as the first mile. Considering how early it failed, it certainly sounds as if it wasn't tested properly and should have been picked up prior to the race in a short training run.