By Prof Dr Ian Blackshaw
The latest ADIDAS running shoes, which were worn by Ethiopian Tigist Assefa last Sunday, when she set a new world record for the women’s marathon in Berlin, have gone on sale on 26 September 2023.
They do not come cheap at the price of US$500 a pair! That is, US$225 more than their NIKE equivalent.
They weigh only 5 ounces (138 grams) and are not durable. So, they can only be worn for a single marathon race of 26 miles (42 kilometres) and also a pre-race warm up. This means that their cost per mile is about US$19.
ADIDAS stated that their new running shoes are optimised for speed rather than durability.
Only 521 pairs have gone on sale to be followed by a further batch in November and they are being marketed as world record breakers.
But how many athletes will be able to afford them and could they give rise to a claim for unfair competition, in a sporting sense, by those who are not able to afford them?
Prof Dr Ian Blackshaw may be contacted by e-mail at ‘