Rewiring sport: How technology is helping athletes break barriers
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Hey guys, Mark here. I wanted to drop into the feed today to let you know about another FT podcast, Tectonic. With the World Cup in Wimbledon underway, they have a new series about tech and sports. The series looks at super shoes, video refereeing, UFC training, and the steroid Olympics. A bunch of stuff basically asking, are these advances in technology leaving the world of sports better off? Here's the first episode, and you can subscribe to Tectonic if you want to hear more. Enjoy.
For years, two hours was the number that haunted marathon runners. Not a record, but a wall. Runners trained their entire careers to crack it, and every time, it held. until one day this year when it didn't. So, it's May 2026, the day of the London Marathon. Roads are shut, crowds run 10 deep, nearly 750,000 people line 26 miles of tarmac in the city. waving signs, screaming at strangers, clad in lycra. And among them are two Germans looking at their phones. We were watching as more or less spectators alongside the track. Mainly, though, they were watching the numbers come in.
Always with, like, one eye on the phone in terms of, like, what do we look like from a timing perspective. All huddled around one mobile phone.
We were about kilometer 40, I think, something like that. This is Mark Makowski, head of innovation, and Patrick Nava, head of running at Adidas. They'd spent the last few years developing what's called a super shoe. And they'd flown to London to find out if their shoes could make history. Using specially designed Featherlite foam and carbon fiber, they have an astounding ability to return energy to the runner with every single stride.
It gives you that feel of literally at every step, you have got that springy effect that kind of like is delivered from the shoe into your kind of movement and into your stride.
Mark and Patrick were watching a small group of runners who were wearing their latest super shoe. They'd been locked in a head-to-head race with Nike over who could beat the two-hour barrier first. It had been tantalisingly close for years. Break it, and the runner becomes immortal. And the shoes on their feet?
How did Adidas’ super shoes help break the two‑hour marathon barrier?
That brand gets written into the record books forever. Kenyan runner Sebastian Sawe was wearing the Adidas Super Shoes and leading the pack. Sebastian's predictions from roundabout half marathon, still slightly under 201.
He'd started strong.
Can he find a little bit extra just to squeeze that last little bit out?
and then they accelerated. Run outside, folks. Grab anybody you can and say there's a bit of history maybe in the offing here. We could well be going for this world record. We know we're like in world record time, but the world record before was two hours and 35 seconds.
Still, 35 seconds to claw back. In the final stretch, Marc and Patrick check their runners' timings again.
Now, can he break the world record? Can he get close to two hours? really solidified, I would say, almost in the last kilometer. Come on, Sebastian. You can get this. History in the making. Under two hours. Nobody's ever done this. They said it couldn't be done.
Sebastian Solway crossed the line. One hour, 59 minutes, 30 seconds. The barrier was gone. And right behind him, Yomith Kajelcha, another Adidas athlete wearing the super shoe. Also sub two hours. Not one runner, but two.
Absolutely incredible. I've never seen anything like that. What a finish. And then just we erupted in joy and like people started looking at us. And then, to be honest, we headed for the first pub and got whatever sparkling wine they had there and like popped a few bottles.
There are many factors that contribute to moments of sporting greatness. Raw athletic talent, years of training and dedication, and great coaching. But in the fine margins of elite sport, when the difference between success and failure can be measured in a few millimeters or a few seconds, the latest technology can be the thing that makes the difference. Feats once thought impossible can suddenly become achievable. For Patrick and Mark, Sebastian Solway's marathon record was the culmination of years of work.
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