Jovani Hernandez UPDATE November 6th, 2023:
Tamirat Tola broke the New York City Marathon’s course record with a time of 2:04:58. He was wearing the adidas Adios Pro Evo 1. Abdi Nageeye placed fourth overall wearing the Nike AlphaFly 3; on the women’s side, Letesenbet Gidey came in second while wearing the Nike AlphaFly 3 as well.
After the win, Tola spoke about his first-ever NYC Marathon: “This race is the largest and one of the most iconic marathons in the world. So, every time I stand at the start line, I have the ambition to become part of its history and make my mark. Today’s race went perfectly for me – not only was I able to execute everything I had worked for so hard in training, but I also had the perfect shoe. Wearing adidas’ lightest ever racing shoe – the Adizero Adios Pro Evo 1 – gave me the confidence that anything would be possible today.”
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Nike’s AlphaFly 3 and the adidas Adios Pro Evo 1 will go foot-to-foot at Sunday’s New York City Marathon. Although dozens of other races will take place between now and the end of 2023, the event on November 5th will serve as the last Abbott World Marathon Major of the year. The occasion is perfect for the top two “super shoes” in the running space to assert dominance going into 2024.
The competition is tough for adidas‘ $500 USD, ultra-limited Adios Pro Evo 1. Nike’s offering is coming off a monumental Chicago Marathon: Kelvin Kiptum set a new world record wearing the third Nike AlphaFly shoe, completing 26.2 miles in 2 hours and 35 seconds. By contrast, the German company’s product has yet to enjoy top race finishes since debuting in mid-September. One exception does exist, however, but on the women’s side of the sport: Tigst Assefa‘s sensational 2 hors, 11 minutes, and 53 seconds-performance at the Berlin Marathon crushed the world record for women. adidas celebrated Assefa’s win, but is undoubtedly eager to see one of its elite male athletes dominate in the first Adios Pro Evo.
Evans Chebet – back-to-back winner of the Boston Marathon – was likely the Three Stripes’ final hope, but he’s since dropped out from the 2023 NYC Marathon. Fellow teammate Tamirat Tola may lace up the adidas Adios Pro Evo 1 on Sunday, although he wore the award-winning Adizero Adios Pro 3 in his most recent race, the AJ Bell Great North Run. Geoffrey Kamworor, who wore the Nike AlphaFly 3 in his second-place finish at the London Marathon in April, also canceled his New York City race plans, “passing the torch” to teammates Shura Kitata and Abdi Nageeye, both sub-2 hours and 5 minutes marathoners. Both elite runners may ultimately opt for the popular VaporFly 3, another successful race-day shoe.
Canada’s fastest marathoner Cam Levins may ultimately dethrone adidas and Nike as he’s in top-top shape and running in the ASICS METASPEED EDGE+.
Whichever shoe ends up on the First Place podium on Sunday – both for Men and Women – will go into the 2024 marathon season as the best marathon race shoe out there.
