The New York City Marathon closes the season of major events with two winners and a very precise snapshot of the current race in competition footwear. Kenya’s Sheila Chepkirui claimed the women’s race in 2:24:36, pulling away in the finale of a leaderboard packed within just seven seconds; in the men’s event, Sweden’s Andreas Almgren secured his first World Marathon Major victory with 2:06:01. But the New York result also speaks to Adidas and Nike, the two brands bringing the most visible—and measurable—innovation in professional running to the road.
Chepkirui finished ahead of American Jessica McClain, second in 2:24:42, and compatriot Hellen Obiri, third in 2:24:43. Obiri entered as the defending champion and had already won in New York in 2023 and 2025; Chepkirui had triumphed in the 2024 edition. Over four years, the two Kenyan athletes have thus shared every women’s victory in the New York marathon between them. The 2026 race, however, added an element of industrial significance: Chepkirui’s success extends the streak of results achieved by Adidas with its high-performance Adizero platform, designated in the season’s data as Pro Evo 3.
In the post-race debrief, Adidas is credited with eight out of fourteen victories in the 2026 majors with the Pro Evo 3, alongside one with the previous Pro Evo 2. It is a concentration that goes beyond a single triumph: London, Berlin, and Chicago were won, in both the men’s and women’s events, by athletes wearing the Pro Evo 3. In Berlin, all six podium finishers were wearing the same model.
A season that reinforces the weight of footwear in elite running
The presence of a brand on a winner’s feet is not enough on its own to explain a marathon. Preparation, strategy, weather conditions, and course characteristics remain decisive; attributing an athlete’s result to footwear would be an improper simplification. However, when the same platform consistently appears at the decisive moments of the racing year, the data ceases to be merely marketing and becomes a signal for the entire industry.
The Pro Evo 3 is the most extreme model in the Adidas racing lineup: it weighs 97 grams in a men's size US 9.5 and is presented by the company as the lightest homologated marathon product ever made. Compared to the previous generation, it boasts a 30% reduction in weight and a 1.6% improvement in running economy. These parameters highlight the clear direction taken by supershoe design: shedding mass, preserving the geometry required for the distance, and making high-energy-return foams and carbon plates work together.
2026 has also brought symbolic results for Adidas. In London, Sebastian Sawe recorded the first official sub-two-hour marathon time; on the same occasion, Tigst Assefa set a new women's world record. Yomif Kejelcha, also in London, became the second man to finish a marathon under two hours, after Sawe. These performances have established a new benchmark in the technical narrative of the discipline, turning the Pro Evo 3 into a point of focus well beyond specialist circles.
For Adidas, the advantage is not just about the number of victories. A product so recognizable in construction and positioning enters the running imagination as a tool of professional athletics: a dynamic that, despite models differing in availability and price, influences the expectations of amateur runners and the language brands use to showcase their performance collections.
Almgren and the first competitive signal from Nike Apex
The men's race in New York, however, provides an important counterpoint. Almgren won wearing the Nike Apex, giving the new Nike shoe its first Major victory even before arriving in stores, scheduled for January. The Swede pulled away from Italy's Yemaneberhan Crippa, second in 2:06:14, and Lesotho's Kamohelo Mofolo, third in 2:06:26. The previous year's winner, Kenyan Benson Kipruto, finished fourth in 2:06:27, just one second off the podium.
For Nike, the win holds a different value compared to Adidas' statistical dominance: it represents the first competitive validation of a product not yet available to the public. Apex was designed with two stacked Air Zoom units in the forefoot. According to information released by Nike, it offers 40% greater energy return compared to Alphafly 3 and 10% more than Alphafly 4, a model launched in September. These are manufacturer claims, and therefore not equivalent to an independent measurement; however, Almgren's result provides the American company with a concrete sporting case to accompany its commercial debut.
The choice to have elite athletes race in a shoe that will arrive on the market months later has become part of the category's playbook. The stage of the majors serves a purpose that goes beyond traditional sponsorship: it tests the product in the harshest conditions while simultaneously establishing its identity before it is ever worn by the consumer community. For a brand like Nike, which played a pivotal role in the initial era of super shoes through Vaporfly and Alphafly, the victorious debut of Apex also serves to reaffirm its ability to set the pace in the most technical segment.
From the podium to the showcase: an increasingly selective market
Elite marathoning has become a arena where product design is just as visible as the uniform. Racing shoes are no longer merely functional accessories: weights, stack heights, foam compounds, and plate configurations serve as key points for marketing and differentiation, while remaining subject to the limits established by World Athletics. Research and development therefore operates within a precise regulatory framework, attempting to gain efficiency without exceeding the threshold of homologation.
New York also makes clear how difficult it is to interpret this competition in absolute terms. In 2025, Obiri had set the women's course record in 2:19:51 wearing On Cloudboom Strike LS, while Kipruto had won the men's race in the closest finish ever recorded by the event wearing Adidas Adizero Adios Pro Evo 2. In just one year, the names of the winners, the conditions, and the balance of power between brands can change. Leadership is built on performance, but it is never permanently secured.
For now, Adidas emerges from 2026 with the highest concentration of results across the majors and a platform that achieved an exceptional podium presence. Nike leaves New York with an equally significant signal: Apex already has a victory to showcase ahead of its retail release. The next test will be determining whether this win remains an isolated event tied to a single athlete and race, or if it previews a broader footprint for the model across the 2027 calendar. In the meantime, the marathon continues to be one of the most demanding testing grounds of contemporary sports design, where every gram and every engineering solution must prove their worth over 42.195 kilometers.
