Breaking2 was a project by

Nike Nike often refers to: * Nike (mythology), a Greek goddess who personifies victory * Nike, Inc., a major American producer of athletic shoes, apparel, and sports equipment Nike may also refer to: People * Nike (name), a surname and feminine give ...

to break the two-hour barrier for the

marathon The marathon is a long-distance foot race with a distance of , usually run as a road race, but the distance can be covered on trail routes. The marathon can be completed by running or with a run/walk strategy. There are also wheelchair div ...

. Nike announced the project in November 2016 and organized a team of three elite runners who trained for a private race. The event was held on the

Formula One Formula One (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The World Drivers' Championship, ...

race track

Autodromo Nazionale Monza The Monza Circuit ( it, Autodromo Nazionale di Monza, , National Automobile Racetrack of Monza) is a race track near the city of Monza, north of Milan, in Italy. Built in 1922, it was the world's third purpose-built motor racing circuit afte ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

on May 6, 2017.

Eliud Kipchoge Eliud Kipchoge ( ; born 5 November 1984) is a Kenyan long-distance runner who competes in the marathon and formerly specialized at the 5000 metre distance. Widely regarded as the greatest marathon runner of all time, he is the 2016 and 2020 O ...

won the race with a time of 2:00:25. While the world record at the time was 2:02:57, this run was not recognized as a new record, because Kipchoge and the other two elite athletes ran with a roster of interchangeable pacemakers.

Team members

Nike chose three runners to make the attempt: At the time, Kipchoge was the defending Olympic champion, having won the marathon at the

2016 Summer Olympics ) , nations = 207 (including IOA and EOR teams) , athletes = 11,238 , events = 306 in 28 sports (41 disciplines) , opening = 5 August 2016 , closing = 21 August 2016 , opened_by = Vice President Michel Temer , cauldron = Vanderlei Cordeiro de ...

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a b ...

, and Zersenay was the

half marathon A half marathon is a road running event of —half the distance of a marathon. It is common for a half marathon event to be held concurrently with a marathon or a 5K race, using almost the same course with a late start, an early finish or shortcut ...

WR holder (58:23, set in 2010). Nike also brought in 30 of the world's best runners to serve as pacers for the race, including

Andrew Bumbalough Andrew Bumbalough (born March 14, 1987) is a runner who specialized in various middle and long distances in track. He represented the United States at the 2011 IAAF World Cross Country Championships and at the 2014 IAAF Continental Cup. After gr ...

Sam Chelanga Samuel Chelanga (born February 23, 1985, in Baringo County, Kenya) is a Kenyan-born American track and field athlete who competed for Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia from 2008 to 2011. He holds the NCAA record for the 10,000 meters ru ...

Chris Derrick Chris Derrick (born October 17, 1990) is an American distance runner who won 3 consecutive US Cross Country Championships in 2013–15. He attended Stanford University, where he earned 14 All-American honors and holds an American junior record ...

Bernard Lagat Bernard Kipchirchir Lagat (born December 12, 1974) is a Kenyan-American middle and long-distance runner. Lagat was born in Kapsabet, Kenya. Prior to his change of domicile to the US, Lagat had an extensive competitive career representing h ...

, and

Lopez Lomong Lopez Lomong (born January 5, 1985) is a South Sudanese-born American track and field athlete. Lomong, one of the Lost Boys of Sudan, came to the United States at the age of 16 and became a U.S. citizen in 2007. Lomong qualified for the 2008 Su ...

Preparations

Nike developed a new running shoe called the "Vaporfly Elite" for the attempt. The Monza automobile racetrack was chosen for a combination of its low altitude, calm weather conditions, and short lap length. In addition to the pacemaker vehicle, runners acting as pacemakers were positioned to shield the key athletes in an attempt to reduce

wind resistance In fluid dynamics, drag (sometimes called air resistance, a type of friction, or fluid resistance, another type of friction or fluid friction) is a force acting opposite to the relative motion of any object moving with respect to a surrounding flu ...

Race

The race began at 5:45 am on Saturday, May 6, 2017, with a temperature of 12°C or 54°F (a higher than ideal temperature for professional marathoners, generally) and some light rain. To break the two-hour barrier, a pace of 2:50 min/km (4:34.5 per mile) was required. In order to achieve this, the racers followed behind a team of six pacers in a triangle formation who were themselves following a pace vehicle displaying a large clock of the race time and projecting green lasers onto the ground to indicate where the lead pacer should be at all times. The pacers only ran two laps (4.8 km) at a time and had 30 minute breaks in between shifts. Groups of pacers would cycle on and off in threes. These innovations disqualifed the performances from being recognised as official marathon records by the IAAF. The runners started off on pace, but Desisa fell off the pace about 16km in, and Tadese followed around 20km. Kipchoge remained on pace through 25km (at 1:11:03) and was only one second off pace at 30km. Kipchoge finished the race in 2:00:25 and said he had given 100 percent effort.

Results

At the time of the race, the world record of the marathon was 2:02:57 (set by

Dennis Kimetto Dennis Kipruto Kimetto (born 22 January 1984) is a Kenyan long distance runner who competes in road running events. He was the world record holder in the men's marathon with a time of 2 hours 2 minutes 57 seconds, a record which he held until El ...

at the

2014 Berlin Marathon The 2014 Berlin Marathon was the 41st edition of the Berlin Marathon. The marathon took place in Berlin, Germany, on 28 September 2014 and was the fourth World Marathon Majors race of the year. The men's race was won by Kenyan athlete Dennis K ...

). Even though Kipchoge beat this time by more than two minutes, his result does not count as an official record by

IAAF World Athletics, formerly known as the International Amateur Athletic Federation (from 1912 to 2001) and International Association of Athletics Federations (from 2001 to 2019, both abbreviated as the IAAF) is the international governing body fo ...

standards because of several factors, including the use of pacers who entered the race midway.

Aftermath

Documentary

A 55-minute documentary about the event also called ''Breaking2'' was produced in partnership with

National Geographic ''National Geographic'' (formerly the ''National Geographic Magazine'', sometimes branded as NAT GEO) is a popular American monthly magazine published by National Geographic Partners. Known for its photojournalism, it is one of the most widel ...

and released in 2017.

Subsequent successful attempt

In 2019, Kipchoge teamed up with Ineos to take on the Ineos 1:59 Challenge, another attempt to break the two-hour mark. The attempt was ultimately successful as Kipchoge finished with a time of 1:59:40.2, but the time did not count as a world record because, like Breaking2, the setup of the event did not conform to the IAAF's requirements.

References

External links

Nike Introduces Breaking2
December 12, 2016 {{Nike, Inc., state=collapsed 2017 marathons 2017 in Italian sport Marathons in Italy Sport in Monza Marathon world records May 2017 sports events in Europe Nike, Inc.