Why running ‘super shoes’ might not be so super for triathlon’s fastest marathon man – Mark Allen

Elite triathletes are running faster and faster every year – in no small part to the technology at their disposal – and that includes those much-hyped ‘super shoes’.

But ironically the ever-advancing plate-enhanced footwear on offer may be giving the sport’s fastest ever marathon runner more trouble than they are worth, according to six-time IRONMAN World Champion Mark Allen.

Germany’s Patrick Lange, two-time Kona champion himself, has made a career out of running down the opposition at the end of a brutal 140.6-mile race. Quite simply, nobody has ever been faster.

Twice Lange has come agonisingly close to running the sport’s first ever sub-2:30 marathon, clocking 2:30:27 at Challenge Roth in 2023 and 2:30:32 at IRONMAN Israel in 2022. Undoubtedly helped to an extent by ‘super shoes’.

But Allen’s hunch is that those shoes are actually helping Lange’s rivals even more, allowing them to blunt his opportunity to run them down in the closing stages. He explained his rationale when speaking to TRI247 in the countdown to the upcoming 2024 IRONMAN World Championship in Kona.

Mark Allen on Lange

“The interesting thing in my opinion – I think the super shoes have helped some of the less talented runners more than the talented runners. It’s almost like when you throw on a wetsuit, that helps the less talented swimmer more than the talented swimmer.

“Just looking at some of the splits of guys compared to what they maybe had done in the past, it helped Patrick for sure I would say – some of the times he’s been running are phenomenal – but I think it’s helped guys who are maybe a little bit slower running, more than him. Which when it comes to first, second or third, makes it a little more difficult for a really good runner.

“So don’t count him out [in Kona], but also, unless the dynamic is just right and he can feed off the train of a pack, I think it will be hard for him to be top three.”

Despite Allen’s fears about how the race dynamic will impact Lange’s hopes of a third title in Hawaii on October 26, he does believe the German is in peak form coming into the race.

Patrick is peaking for Kona 2024

“A number of people, when I was in Nice for the IRONMAN World Championship, were saying they think he’s actually gonna have a really good race in Kona this year. The underground guys who are keeping track of him, who are there, seeing what he’s doing, knowing what he’s doing, knowing how he’s raced and all that.

“Even if he doesn’t have a win or a top three, I think he’s got that desire to go sub 2:30 on the marathon. So even if he doesn’t win, maybe we’re gonna see a sub 2:30 marathon, which would be kind of like one of those 27-year split times that stays on the record books for quite a while.”