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James Waindi and Agencies

Women Marathon world record holder Brigid Kosgei and her counterpart Eliud Kipchoge who ran unofficial sub-two-hour marathon in Vienna last year, have poured cold water on claims that the running shoes they wore when they achieved their respective fetes, gave them an advantage.

World Athletics yesterday announced that they were considering banning the Nike shoes that were used by the duo.

Kosgei smashed Paula Radcliffe’s 16-year marathon mark wearing the Nike Vaporfly as she won the Chicago Marathon in  2hr 14min 4sec, well inside Radcliffe’s time of  2:15:25.

It is also understood shoes which sources at World Athletics believe to be a hybrid of the Vaporfly, are the ones Kipchoge used in Vienna.

“I would still break the world record while running bare foot. It is not the shoes that do the running, it’s always an athlete’s shape going into the race and the level of preparation,” Kosgei told People Sport.

Total absurd

She added: “I remember initially before the Chicago Marathon race began, I had refused to wear the new shoes because I had armed myself with my usual blue shoes that I used when I won London Marathon, but my manager convinced me to just wear the new shoes because almost all the athletes on the starting line had wore them.

So for someone to claim that they aided my achievement, it’s total absurd.”

Kipchoge on his part remained defiant that the controversial Nike shoes that he ran his sub-two-hour marathon in are ‘fair’, claiming the sport should get on board with technological advances.

Nike’s range of Vaporfly shoes are under intense review from a panel of experts at World Athletics after they sparked the biggest mass drop in road race running times in history.

The contentious issue is the foam and carbon-fibre composition of the sole, which acts like a spring to help runners get the most forward push from each stride.

A technical body looking into the Nike shoes are set to deliver their findings at the end of this month.

But yesterday, Kipchoge defended the trainers by claiming there is no need for greater regulation as marathon times are down to the athlete running the race.

“They are fair,’ he told the Telegraph. ‘I trained hard. Technology is growing and we can’t deny it – we must go with technology.

“In Formula 1, Pirelli issues the tyres to all the cars but Mercedes are the best one. Why? It’s the engine. It’s the person.

“So for those that are against the shoe, it’s the person who is running, not the shoe. It’s the person driving, not the person making the tyres.’

A moratorium is being considered by World Athletics, which may see records stand despite likely bans for the shoes.