The Clock Stopped at 1:59.30. The Innovation Never Did.

A Historic Sunday in London

On April 26th, 2026, the streets of London witnessed something the world had never seen before. Not once, but three times, history was rewritten at the 2026 London Marathon.

Sabastian Sawe crossed the finish line in 1:59.30 — the first-ever sub-2-hour marathon in a record-eligible race, taking a staggering 65 seconds off the previous world record set by the late Kelvin Kiptum in Chicago in 2023. His compatriot Yomif Kejelcha followed in 1:59.41, achieving the same feat on his marathon debut. And Tigist Assefa shattered the women-only world record with a breathtaking 2:15.41. ‍

Three athletes. Three records. One unforgettable day.

But behind every world record, there is a story that rarely makes the headlines. A story told not in seconds, but in patents, prototypes, and protected innovation.

The Shoe Behind the Record

All three athletes wore the same shoe: the adidas Adizero Adios Pro Evo 3 — adidas' lightest and fastest shoe ever made, weighing in at just 97 grams.

This is not a coincidence. This is engineering.

The Adizero Adios Pro Evo 3 is the product of years of intensive research and development. Its key technological breakthroughs include:

• Next-generation Lightstrike Pro Evo foam — 50% lighter than the foam used in its predecessor, the Pro Evo 2, while delivering 11% greater energy return  runningwarehouse
• ENERGYRIM — a revolutionary carbon-fibre infused frame that runs around the perimeter of the midsole, replacing the traditional full-length carbon plate. It stabilises the ultra-soft foam while adding propulsion at toe-off  shopping.yahoo t3
• A 39mm stack midsole that maximises cushioning without compromising weight  sneakerfreaker

As adidas VP of Product Stephan Scholten put it: "Our goal was two digits on the scale, with better performance than we've ever had." runnersworld

These are not just design choices. These are innovations built on years of protected R&D. The result of teams of engineers, material scientists, and biomechanics experts working alongside elite athletes to push the absolute boundary of what is physically possible.

Without intellectual property protection, none of this investment would make sense. Why spend years and millions developing a breakthrough technology, only to have it copied overnight?

IP protection is what makes the innovation race worth running.

World IP Day 2026: IP and Sports — Ready, Set, Innovate

It is no coincidence that yesterday, April 26th, was also World IP Day 2026, celebrated globally under the theme:

"IP and Sports: Ready, Set, Innovate"

Organised by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), World IP Day is an annual opportunity to reflect on how intellectual property shapes our world — and sport is one of its most vivid arenas. As WIPO itself highlights, this year's theme recognises "the increasingly complex relationship between intellectual property rights and the multibillion-dollar global sports industry." ipwatchdog wipo

New WIPO data published for World IP Day 2026 confirm that IP use in the sports industry is booming — with patents, trademarks, and design rights all seeing significant growth across sports-related sectors.  wipo

The theme this year could not have been better timed.

What IP Has to Do With a Sub-2-Hour Marathon

Let's break it down. When a company like adidas invests in developing a revolutionary running shoe, they rely on several layers of intellectual property protection:

• Patents protect the technical innovations — the specific foam formulations, the ENERGYRIM carbon system, the bonding techniques. A patent gives the inventor exclusive rights for a defined period, ensuring they can recoup their R&D investment.
• Design rights protect the visual appearance of the shoe — its shape, its aesthetic, its identity on the podium.
• Trade secrets cover the proprietary processes and know-how that never make it into a patent application — the internal testing protocols, the athlete feedback loops, the manufacturing refinements.
• Trademarks ensure that when you see those three stripes on the starting line, you know exactly what they stand for.

Together, these tools create an ecosystem where innovation is rewarded, investment is protected, and progress is possible. Without them, the incentive to develop the next generation of performance technology simply would not exist. The European Patent Office (EPO) echoes this, noting that IP "supports the technologies, designs and brands that shape modern sport." epo

Records Are Broken on the Track. But They Are Built in the Lab.

Sabastian Sawe's 1:59.30 will go down in history as one of sport's greatest moments. The Guardian described it as a feat that turned a "brain-spinning" idea into reality — like running 100 metres in under 17 seconds and holding that pace for the entire race.  epo theguardian

But it is also a monument to human ingenuity — to the scientists, engineers, and designers who spent years working in relative anonymity to make that moment possible.

World IP Day reminds us to celebrate not just the athletes who cross the finish line, but the innovators who build the tools that get them there.

IP protection is the starting gun for innovation. It signals to inventors, researchers, and companies around the world: your ideas are worth protecting. Your investment is worth making. Your breakthrough is worth pursuing.

And sometimes, that breakthrough looks like a 26.2-mile race completed in under two hours.

Conclusion

Yesterday was a day of records — on the road and in the lab. It was a day that perfectly illustrated the power of combining human athletic potential with protected technological innovation.

As we celebrate World IP Day 2026 and its theme of "IP and Sports: Ready, Set, Innovate", let us remember:

Behind every record, there is an innovation. Behind every innovation, there is protection. And behind every protection, there is a patent office.

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Sources:

World Athletics: Sawe breaks two-hour barrier worldathletics.org‍

BBC Sport: London Marathon 2026 results bbc.com/sport‍

AP News: Sawe wins London Marathon in world-record time apnews.com‍

The Guardian: Sawe breaks two-hour barrier theguardian.com‍

Runner's World UK: Adizero Adios Pro Evo 3 launch runnersworld.com‍

Sneaker News: Adizero Adios Pro Evo 3 technology sneakernews.com‍

WIPO: World IP Day 2026 wipo.int‍

WIPO: New data: IP use booming in sports industry wipo.int/pressroom‍

WIPO Magazine: IP and Sports: Ready, Set, Innovate wipo.int/magazine‍

EPO: World IP Day 2026 epo.org‍

adidas announcement (LinkedIn) linkedin/adidas

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