Nike wants new sneakers to help someone run a marathon in under two hours

The athletic apparel giant Nike is setting its sights on a whole new goal, hoping that the Zoom Vaporfly Elite will help someone run a marathon in less than two hours.

Have you ever looked at our shoes and though, “man, if I just had a different pair, I could totally run a marathon in less than two hours!”. Unless you’re top-tier athlete, I’m guessing that has never actually crossed your mind.

However, the apparel giant Nike is convinced that their newest shoe, the Nike Zoom Vaporfly Elite, will help someone out there break the record for the fastest marathon ever. The current world record for the 26-mile journey is two hours, two minutes and 57 seconds, but Nike is convinced that this new sneaker will help someone break the two-hour mark.

Nike is hoping to compete with the likes of Adidas with this new sneaker to help make marathon history. Weighing in at around seven ounces, product development for the Zoom Vaporfly Elite started back in 2014. Developers are hoping that the shoe’s 3-D knitting and cushioning technology will help shave off time for marathon runners.

“It’s ones of those big barriers of human potential,” Nike’s VP of footwear innovation Tony Bignell said about a marathon in less than two hours, according to Margaret Rhodes from Wired.com. You can check out a photo of the running shoes below.

Three marathon runners will be wearing the Nike Zoom Vaporfly Elites this spring at the Breaking2 initiative. If one of them can break the two-hour mark, it’ll be a huge moment not only for the athletic apparel company, but also for human athleticism.