How special Sawe broke iconic sub-two-hour barrier

At the finish line, Sawe held up sponsors Adidas' latest 'supershoe' with his time written along the side, acknowledging the technology which had assisted him. The Adidas Adios Pro 3 shoes, available to purchase for an eye-watering £450, weigh just 97g - 30% lighter than the previous model. The company claims they deliver an 11% greater forefoot energy return and improve running economy by 1.6% compared to its predecessor. Tigst Assefa also wore the shoes in breaking the women's record on Sunday. To benefit from those statistics, however, Sawe runs about 200km per week - averaging almost 30km every day - at altitude, and credited his increase in volume as one of the key factors in his progress. Developments in fuelling have also aided progress in endurance events. Sawe reportedly took on 115g of carbohydrates per hour during the race, following a breakfast consisting of two slices of bread with honey and tea. It all combined to allow him to cover 26.2 miles at an average pace of 2:50 mins/km, or 4:33 mins/mile, including a 5km split of 13:42 from 35-40km as he sped up towards the finish. However, amid the spate of high-profile doping cases involving Kenyan athletes, including women's marathon world record holder Ruth Chepngetich, he has also had an awareness for the need to instil confidence in these performances. …