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Chepngetich has considerable history in the marathon, winning the world title in Qatar in 2019 and coming within 14 seconds of success in a previous world record attempt.<\/p>\n
However, her stark improvement against the clock has become more familiar in the ‘supershoe’<\/a> era.<\/p>\n Between 1988 and 1998 the men\u2019s marathon world record was unchanged.<\/p>\n Now the breakthroughs are more regular and more significant.<\/p>\n In a little over 10 years, the men\u2019s mark has dropped four times, with nearly three minutes wiped off the clock.<\/p>\n Chepngetich\u2019s mark is the third new women\u2019s world record in five years, with the fastest women\u2019s time over 26.2 miles dropping by five and half minutes in that period.<\/p>\n High-tech foams, carbon plates and pressurised airbags have combined in the soles of the latest shoes to return more energy to athletes, sparking an arms race among manufacturers. <\/p>\n World Athletics has moved quickly to regulate shoe technology.<\/p>\n Chepngetich was wearing Nike\u2019s Alphafly 3, one of hundreds of different models that have been checked, validated and published on the World Athletics website and specialist app., external<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n The regulations over shoe technology stretch over 18 pages, external<\/span><\/a> and include restrictions on the development of \u2018intelligent\u2019 shoes which might change sole composition across different parts of a runner\u2019s stride pattern.<\/p>\n Manufacturers are allowed to supply sponsored athletes with prototype shoes which are not yet available to the public for testing purposes outside Olympic Games and World Championships. <\/p>\n However, other approved shoes must be or have been available to the general public. Chepngetich\u2019s chosen pair retail at \u00a3285.<\/p>\n Kenyan distance running has been beset by doping scandals in recent years, and Chepngetich was asked about doping after her victory in Chicago.<\/p>\n Former marathon world record holder Wilson Kipsang, former half-marathon world record holder Abraham Kiptum, Rio 2016 Olympic marathon champion Jemima Sumgong and London Marathon winner Daniel Wanjiru are among those to have been banned.<\/p>\n World Athletics president Lord Coe visited Nairobi<\/a> in January 2023, but Kenya’s anti-doping agency says it has since been weakened by budget cuts from the government.<\/p>\n Asked whether she could understand why the positive tests might cause some fans to doubt her new world record, Chepngetich said: “People must talk.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n