NYC defending champ Geoffery Kamworor says Vaporfly 4% isn’t an advantage

Geoffery Kamworor is the reigning world half-marathon champion, world cross-country champion and New York Marathon champion. At the international press day leading up to the 2018 TCS New York City Marathon, Kamworor commented that he doesn’t believe running without the Nike Vaporfly 4% is a disadvantage. “Actually I don’t think that the shoe is a factor provided that you are prepared, that you are training hard, you can run with any kind of shoe. So the shoe is not a disadvantage to other people.”

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This statement follows a growing debate as to whether the Nike shoe provides too much of an advantage. With runners like Eliud Kipchoge in Berlin, who broke the world marathon record in September, and Mo Farah, who broke the British and European marathon record in Chicago this month, sporting the instantly-recognizable orange shoe, some are raising the question of whether the much-touted four per cent edge it gives runners is comparable to a performance-enhancing drug.

But the New York defending champion says no. Kamworor is a favourite going into Sunday’s marathon. He’s known as a very versatile runner–in the 2018 half-marathon championships race, Kamworor split a shocking 13:01 from kilometre 15-20. That’s insanely fast. The runner trains with world record-holder Eliud Kipchoge, and said yesterday that he hopes to one day take down his record. 

The elite men’s race gets underway Sunday morning at 9:50 a.m. EDT.