13-Oct-2024 – Chicago Marathon – 2:09:56 – Nike Air Zoom Alphafly Next% 3
Date of birth: 7-Aug-1994
Nationality: Kenyan
World Record duration: 3 days (as of 16 October 2024)
The athlete:
Ruth Chepng’etich made it clear over several years that the Chicago Marathon course was one where she excelled, winning in 2021 and 2022. Her run in 2022 was indicative of the strategy she would apply in 2024, having passed halfway in 65:44 before losing pace until she crossed the line only 14 seconds behind the world record at the time set by compatriot Brigid Kosgei.
She told reporters in the lead-up to the 2024 Chicago Marathon that she had enjoyed three months of perfect training, and with competitor Sutume Kebede asking for aggressive pacing with the plan to pass halfway in 65:30. It was clear there would be an attempt on the world record. Chepng’etich was particularly motivated, having missed selection for the Kenyan Olympic team.
Kebede would pass halfway in an incredible 64:30, but Chepng’etich was ahead of her doing the same distance in 64:16, which at the time of writing is the 5th fastest ever half-marathon for a woman! She as predicted began to slow, with each five kilometre split slower than the last except the final one. Such was her pace though that it did not matter, the final half completed in 65:40.
Her win made her the first woman in history to go below the average of five minutes per mile in the marathon distance, shaving nearly two whole minutes off the world record. Some raised questions based on the number of Kenyan athletes caught in doping violations, Chepng’etich dismissing it by telling reporters “people must talk”.
In their report, the BBC noted the equivalent men’s marathon time was 1:59:37. It should be remembered that the late Kelvin Kiptum may well have threatened such a time if he had competed at the 2024 Rotterdam Marathon where he had told world media that he was looking to better his own world record.
It should be further noted that as an elite athlete who has won several major international competition, Chepng’etich is subject to extensive drug testing and she has never failed a drug test. While her half-marathon split for her world record is incredible, she has switched her focus to the full marathon and as noted previously had faultless training leading up to a course she knows well.
An interesting comparison was made by Athletics Weekly with the world record set by Paula Radcliffe in 2003, which represented an improvement of four minutes in the year after her marathon debut. Radcliffe was about ten minutes slower than the men’s world record at the time set by Khalid Khannouchi. The gap is only slightly smaller between Chepng’etich and Kiptum.
Additionally, Radcliffe would end 2003 ranked 304th in the world for the marathon. Chepng’etich is now 284th but could drop further depending on results for marathons until the end of the year including the notoriously quick Valencia Marathon. In short, there is no hard evidence to support allegations of impropriety and processes operating in the background to make sure integrity is maintained.
The shoes:
Chepng’etich wore the third iteration of the technological powerhouse known as the Nike Air Zoom Alphafly Next%. As written about extensively in my article about Eliud Kipchoge and his demonstration run where he broke the two-hour barrier, the Alphafly combines highly compressive and responsive Pebax foam dubbed ZoomX with Zoom Air pods under the forefoot.
Of course, as with all elite marathon running shoes today, the key ingredient is the carbon-fibre plate running through the midsole. Chepng’etich has extensive experience with this technology, having work the Nike VaporFly in various guises throughout most of her marathon career. She first wore the Alphafly at the 2024 London Marathon.
Interestingly, Chepng’etich did not appear to wear the elite version of the Alphafly Next% 3 which tweaks the package to what looks like an even more aggressive plate geometry with yet more foam under the forefoot. Nike has provided this model to many of its elite athletes, World Athletics having approved it for use as the ‘Dev 16E’. It is unclear whether Nike will release it to the public as it did with the Nike Zoom VaporFly Elite back in 2017 through to 2019.
References:
https://www.runnersworld.com/races-places/a41560097/chicago-marathon-2022-results/
https://tonireavis.com/2024/10/13/another-world-record-falls-in-chicago/
https://www.letsrun.com/news/2024/10/ruth-chepgnetich-20957-smashes-world-record-breaks-210-barrier-at-2024-chicago-marathon/
https://www.bbc.com/sport/athletics/articles/c89l29l2dxvo.amp
https://athleticsweekly.com/blog/chepngetichs-20956-world-marathon-record-tests-the-belief-of-fans-1039993637/
https://www.wada-ama.org/en/athletes-support-personnel/anti-doping-process
https://www.chicagomarathon.com/runners/bank-of-america-chicago-marathon-anti-doping-policy/
https://believeintherun.com/shoe-reviews/nike-alphafly-3-first-look/
https://www.runnersworld.com/uk/gear/shoes/a45481094/war-of-the-super-shoes/
https://www.runnersworld.com/uk/gear/shoes/a30777696/nike-alphafly/
https://www.nicekicks.com/how-eliud-kipchoge-and-the-nike-alphafly-made-history/
https://www.believeintherun.com/a-breakdown-of-the-nike-kipchoge-prototype/
https://www.wired.co.uk/article/nike-alphafly-eliud-kipchoge
https://certcheck.worldathletics.org/FullList
https://hypebeast.com/2017/9/nike-zoom-vaporfly-elite-eliud-kipchoge-red
https://techcrunch.com/2018/04/17/nikes-vaporfly-elite-flyprint-leans-hard-into-computational-design/
https://hypebeast.com/2018/4/nike-zoom-vaporfly-elite-flyprint-3d-printed
https://hypebeast.com/2019/2/nike-vaporfly-elite-flyprint-3d-japan-release-info