_Marathon racing shoe
2023
For this project, I wasn’t directly involved in the development process—the lead developer was Korbinian, one of the most talented and inspiring developers I’ve had the chance to work with. However, I played a key role on the athlete servicing side once the shoe transitioned from the lab to the track. I was responsible for introducing this groundbreaking innovation to our elite athletes for the very first time. Traveling with the team to Kenya, we ensured that athletes had the opportunity to test and get familiar with the shoe in authentic training conditions. Given the radical nature of the concept and its extremely low weight, it was crucial to validate that we were heading in the right direction.At the time, this was the lightest racing shoe ever created—an engineering milestone that redefined performance expectations. I personally handed over final pairs to several runners the night before the 2023 Berlin Marathon, making last-minute upper adjustments to fine-tune the fit. One of those athletes was Tigist Assefa, the Ethiopian marathoner who went on to break the world record by more than two minutes the following day. It was a historic achievement—not only for Tigist, but for the entire global team who worked tirelessly to bring this innovation to life. This was the result of an extraordinary team effort across development, design, biomechanics, and athlete servicing. To this day, the shoe is still referenced as the pinnacle of racing performance.
