On Sunday, three London Marathon runners took the sporting world by storm, not least because of their shared choice of footwear. Kenyan Sabastian Sawe won the men's race with a RECORD time of 1:59:30, while Ethiopian Yomif Kejelcha came second in 1:59:41, and fellow Ethiopian Tigist Assefa broke the women's record with a time of 2:15:41. All three were wearing the Adizero Adios Pro Evo 3, a new Adidas shoe designed specifically for marathons. The shoes' apparent success is the latest shot in a long-simmering war between sportswear companies to design footwear that helps people move faster on long-distance runs, and the science behind them is FASCINATING. While "it has gotta be the shoes" was once used as a tongue-in-cheek slogan for Air Jordans, there is plenty of truth to that sentiment when it comes to marathons, says Brad Wilkins, director of the Performance Research Laboratory at the University of Oregon. "People are getting faster and faster, partly because of equipment, partly because of the belief in the fact that we can run that fast, and partly because of training and adaptations because of that belief," he explains. It is a COMBINATION of factors that has converged to create the conditions for history-making performances. The Adizero Adios Pro Evo 3 looks a bit strange compared to a normal running shoe, and that is by design. It features a carbon fiber plate embedded in the midsole, which acts as a springboard, propelling the runner forward with each stride. The plate is combined with advanced foam technology that provides superior energy return, meaning that less of the runner's energy is lost with each footstrike and more is returned to propel them forward. The result is a shoe that effectively reduces the metabolic cost of running at elite speeds, allowing athletes to maintain faster paces for longer periods. The science behind these shoes is the product of YEARS of research and development. Adidas, like its competitors Nike, has invested heavily in understanding the biomechanics of running and how footwear can enhance performance. The carbon fiber plate technology was first introduced in Nike's Vaporfly shoes in 2017, and since then, the technology has evolved RAPIDLY. Each new iteration of super shoes brings incremental improvements — lighter materials, more responsive foam, better plate design — and the cumulative effect has been DRAMATIC. But the shoes are not without CONTROVERSY. Critics argue that the technology provides an unfair advantage, artificially inflating performances and making it difficult to compare results across different eras. World Athletics, the governing body for the sport, has implemented regulations limiting the thickness of shoe midsoles and the number of carbon fiber plates, but the debate over where to draw the line between innovation and unfair advantage continues. What is UNDENIABLE is the impact that these shoes have had on the sport. Marathon times have dropped SIGNIFICANTLY since the introduction of super shoes, and records that once seemed untouchable are now being broken with regularity. The sub-2-hour marathon, once considered a physiological impossibility, has now been achieved twice in the same race, and the role of the shoes in those performances is impossible to ignore. As the technology continues to evolve, the question is not whether records will continue to fall, but how fast they will fall. The Adizero Adios Pro Evo 3 represents the current state of the art, but it is almost certainly not the final word. Adidas, Nike, and other manufacturers are already working on the next generation of super shoes, and the athletes who wear them will continue to push the boundaries of what the human body can achieve. It is a thrilling time for distance running, and the science of speed is at the HEART of it all.