The rivalry between Adidas and Nike is heating up, but some things are bigger than business.
This morning, Kenyan distance runner and reigning Olympic champion Eliud Kipchoge set a new unofficial marathon record of 2 hours 25 seconds, besting the previous mark of 2:02:57 set by Dennis Kimetto at the 2014 Berlin Marathon. Running in the newly introduced Nike Vaporfly Elite, Kipchoge didn't meet his goal of becoming the first runner to break a sub 2-hour marathon, but he did push the boundaries of the sport by making a realistic bid for it. Eritrea's Zersenay Tadese and Lelisa Desisa of Ethiopia also ran at the Nike event in Italy Saturday morning.
In a rare display of unison, Adidas temporarily put the gloves down to show their foe respect for rewriting history. The brand's running account sent out the following tweet this morning:
@Nike Congratulations @EliudKipchoge on such a courageous run.
The message was subtle, but spoke volumes. Kipchoge's run was beyond impressive and opened the door for all brands to eventually make the impossible possible. Earlier this year, Adidas launched its own Sub2 marathon sneaker, the Adizero Sub2, featuring its Boost cushioning technology.
