India 13 December 2016: Today Nike unveils Breaking2, an innovation moonshot designed to unlock human potential.
Like all daring dreams, Breaking2 has an audacious goal: Enable a sub two-hour marathon time.
Many
consider this feat impossible. It requires reducing the current men’s
world record time of 2:02:57 by three percent. However, that challenge
is exactly what drives Nike; the impossible is an opportunity to
envision the future of sport.
To
help achieve a sub two-hour marathon, Nike is working with a diverse
team of leaders across several fields of science and sport with a
holistic approach to athletes, product, training, nutrition and
environment.
Breaking2
provides an opportunity to explore whether the impossible is within
reach. It is the ultimate embodiment of Nike’s mission: To bring
inspiration and innovation to every athlete on the planet.
THE MISSION
In
1954, Sir Roger Bannister ran the first four-minute mile. Bannister
didn’t just break a record; he redefined what athletes were capable of
and inspired confidence in others to do the same. Within one year, 24
more runners had followed Bannister's lead.
This
great story reminds us that inspiration — complete belief in an
impossible goal — is at the core of human potential. After all, as Bill
Bowerman, Nike’s co-founder and legendary track coach, once said, “The
real purpose of running isn't to win a race, it’s to test the limits of
the human heart."
At its core, Breaking2 is about more than a marathon.
Attempting
to break the sub two-hour marathon challenges the perception of what is
possible in sport, resets the expectations of product and enables Nike
to gather incredible athlete insight. These lessons can be applied
across everything Nike does, including products and services, to
ultimately serve all runners. The only real failure would be to not
attempt such an audacious goal.
THE ATHLETES
Reaching
a sub two-hour marathon requires shaving seven seconds off each of the
26.2 miles of the marathon. Even for the world’s best runners this is a
massive leap.
Nike
spent significant time identifying three elite athletes who are
perfectly equipped for (and bold enough to take on) the challenge.
Eliud
Kipchoge of Kenya, Lelisa Desisa of Ethiopia and Zersenay Tadese of
Eritrea are all lined up to attempt the impossible and run a sub
two-hour marathon. These runners are not afraid of the unknown — they
attack it.
ELIUD KIPCHOGE
Eliud
Kipchoge, 32 years old, was born November 5 in Kapsisiywa, Nandi
District and has won medals at both the Olympic and World level. Eliud
began running after high school following years of observing his coach
and mentor, Patrick Sang, who is still his coach to date.
In
2003, Eliud made his debut in distance running after setting a world
junior record in the 5000 meters at the IAAF World Cross Country
Championship. Later that year, Eliud became World Champion at the World
Championships in Athletics. In 2012, Eliud set a half-marathon best with
a time of 59:25. Eliud won a bronze medal at the 2004 Athens Olympics
in 5000 meters, a silver medal in the 2008 Beijing Olympics in the 5000
meters and most recently, a gold medal at the 2016 Rio Olympics in the
men’s marathon.
He
improved his personal best marathon time by 5 seconds after winning the
Berlin Marathon with a time of 2:04:00. In 2016, he improved upon that
time even further when he set a new course record in the London Marathon
achieving a winning time of 2:03:05.
ZERSENAY TADESE
Zersenay
Tadese, 34 years old, was born February 8 in Adi Bana, Eritrea. His
bronze medal in the 10,000 meters at the 2004 Athens Olympics made him
the first ever Eritrea Olympic medalist. He was also Eritrea’s first
athlete to win a World Championship event when he took the 20-kilometer
title in the 2006 IAAF World Road Running Championships.
Zersenay
has four consecutive victories in the World Half Marathon Championships
from 2006-2009 and won the title again in 2012. He set a world record
in the 2010 Lisbon Half Marathon and has won gold, silver and two bronze
medals at the IAAF World Cross Country Championships. Zersenay is a
four-time Olympian competing at the 2004, 2008, 2012 and 2016 Olympic
Games.
In
2009, Zersenay became the second man to win three World Championship
medals over three different surfaces in the same year. Zersenay
currently holds the men’s half marathon world record with a time of
58:23. His brother, Kidane Tadese, is also a professional distance
runner.
LELISA DESISA
Lelisa
Desisa, 26 years old, was born January 14 in Shewa, Ethiopia. Early in
his running career, Lelisa focused on road racing. He made his
breakthrough in 2010 after running sub-60 minutes placing third at the
Zayed International Half Marathon. He has won many high-profile races
such as Boilermaker 15K, Cherry Blossom 10-miler, Bolder Boulder 10K and
Delhi Half Marathon.
Lelisa
made his marathon debut by running 2:04:45 hours in the 2013 Dubai
Marathon. Lelisa won the 2013 Boston Marathon and with the event of the
bombings, he gave his medal back to the city of Boston to honor all the
bombing victims. In 2015, he won the Boston Marathon again with a time
of 2:09:17, and took second in 2016.
THE TEAM
Nike
is always looking for barriers to break and the idea of a sub two-hour
marathon has come up many times. Fueled by a long-standing passion for
running, Nike began working on a footwear solution specific to the
marathon in 2013. This effort ultimately transitioned a year later into a
full-on commitment to breaking the two-hour marathon, precipitating the
formation of the Breaking2 team.
The
Breaking2 team includes world-class experts across biomechanics,
coaching, design, engineering, materials development, nutrition and
sports psychology and physiology. Alignment of the group’s diverse
knowledge bases aims to unpack performance at the molecular level. In
this, the team will obsess every detail of the Breaking2 attempt, from
weather conditions to jerseys, enabling Eliud, Lelisa and Zersenay to
maximize their potential.
THE INNOVATION
To
run the perfect race, the athletes require the most innovative product.
This is a critical pillar of the Breaking2 attempt, and where Nike is
able to deliver unrivaled performance benefits. After years of extensive
research and development, Breaking2 will debut a system of
groundbreaking innovation that has the potential to elevate every
runner.
THE ATTEMPT
To go faster than ever, each second is optimized by careful consideration of course and conditions.
The date and location of the sub two-hour race attempt will be revealed next year