Hellen Obiri broke the New York City Marathon course record on Sunday, surpassing Margaret Okayo’s 2003 finish mark by almost three minutes.
Obiri completed the race with a time of 2:19:51. The previous course record of 2:22:31 held by Okayo had stood since 2003.
Obiri had earlier won the 2023 NYC Marathon as well as the 2024 and 2023 Boston Marathons and finished second in the 2024 New York race, according to WWD.
She wore the On Cloudboom Strike LS for her run through the five boroughs of New York on Sunday. She put on the same shoes when she won the Boston Marathon last year.
Runners’ World reports that it takes about three minutes for a robot to make the shoes. Since the shoes don’t have laces, they are not adjustable. Obiri’s shoes are moulded to her foot.
The unconventional sneaker “features On’s ‘spray-on’ LightSpray technology to keep the upper lightweight and form-fitting and is paired with a dual-density foam midsole,” as reported by WWD.
While not available at retail currently, the Cloudboom Strike LS sneaker can be bought from select stores for $330, the platform added.
On Sunday, Obiri was joined by other Kenyan runners Sharon Lokedi and Sheila Chepkirui on the women’s podium. The two runners finished with times of 2:20:07 and 2:20:24, respectively.
Kenyan runners dominated the 54th annual event Sunday, with Benson Kipruto beating fellow Kenyan Alexander Mutiso in a photo finish in the men’s race. Like the women’s race, third place also went to a Kenyan runner, Albert Korir with a time of 2:08:57. Kipruto used the Adidas Adizero Adios Pro Evo 2 to finish the race.
