On Oct. 12, Eliud Kipchoge, the distance runner sponsored by Nike, became the first man to run the marathon distance of 26.2 miles in less than two hours. His exact time was 1:59:40. Kipchoge was taking part in the Ineos 1:59 Challenge, an unofficial marathon in Vienna.
The route was streamlined for speed especially for Kipchoge, with minimal inclines, wind resistance and directional changes and a low altitude for plentiful oxygen. Its site, the Prater Park in Vienna, even has a similar longitude to Kaptagat, Kenya, where Kipchoge trains.
Kipchoge also benefited from laser pacers and a modified version of Nike’s Vaporfly Next% running shoe, which purportedly increases energy return by four percent (presumably by comparison with the standard Vaporfly Next%). According to Runner’s World, the shoes had a different forefoot midsole and seemed to correspond to Nike’s patent for a “stacked cushioning arrangement for sole structure,” with fluid-filled cushions between rigid plates of carbon fiber.
The Nike-sponsored unofficial record comes on the heels of the demise of Nike’s Oregon Project for distance running, which the Swoosh decided finally to shut down on Oct. 10. As we have previously reported (SGI Europe Vol. 30 N° 33+34), the project’s coach, Alberto Salazar, has received a four-year suspension from the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) for testing the threshold of detectability of an illegal testosterone treatment. Nike’s chief executive, Mark Parker, was kept informed of the results by e-mail.
The New York Times has now reported that the USADA’s investigation was prompted by whistleblowers. Danny Mackey, current coach for Brooks Beast, testified that he had been instructed to use testosterone and a thyroid treatment while running for the Oregon Project. Kara Goucher, a former Olympian and member of the Oregon Project, approached the FBI and USADA after witnessing what she suspected as unnatural performances by at least two Nike athletes, Mo Farah and Galen Rupp. She later testified that she had seen the topical testosterone AndroGel as well as syringes in a team condominium. And it was Steve Magness, an assistant coach and scientist at the Oregon Project in 2010/11, who testified that Salazar was testing AndroGel on his sons.
Mackey, Goucher and Magness told the Times that Salazar and the Oregon Project in general had tried to intimidate them. Magness also said that members of Nike’s marketing staff had confronted him over a documentary released in 2015 by the BBC, which drew from his allegations. Mackey, meanwhile, said that John Capriotti, Nike’s global director of athletics, had threatened to “kill” him at the USA Championships in 2015. Salazar, for his part, has described Kara Goucher’s testimony as retribution for his long-running feud with her husband, the former runner Adam Goucher.
