Yesterday, thousands of runners from around the world gathered in Vienna, Austria to participate in the 38th annual Vienna City Marathon after it was rescheduled from April due to the pandemic. The first person to cross the finish line was Derara Hurisa, who finished the race in 2:09:22 but was disqualified shortly after race officials discovered the shoes he was wearing did not meet the standard requirements.
The shoe the Ethiopian runner was wearing was the Adidas Adizero Prime X, which had a midsole that was 1cm thicker than the legal 4cm limit. Adidas launched the Adizero Prime X earlier this year as part of its new Adizero Performance running collection and made specifically for long-distance running. The shoe’s key design elements are the Lightstrike Pro midsole featuring the most cushioning ever on an Adidas running shoe combined with Energyrods, and carbon-infused blades within the midsole to propels runners forward.
“Winner disqualified: The initial winner of the Vienna City Marathon had to be disqualified for wearing shoes which are not compliant with the rules. Ethiopia’s Derara Hurisa crossed the finish line first after 2:09:22,” the Vienna City Marathon tweeted yesterday about the controversial finish.
The second-place finisher was Kenya’s Leonard Langat, who has now been crowned the winner of the race after running a time of 2:09:25 while wearing Adizero Adios Pro 2.
