This year’s Boston Marathon featured perfect weather, blistering fast times, and a wide range of super shoes. Women’s winner Sharon Lokedi destroyed the course record, while the men’s champ John Korir fell at the start of the race but got up to run the second-fastest time ever on the course.
Most interesting to us shoe nerds is that each of those runners had on a different pair of road racing shoes. It seems that true parity has finally arrived. You no longer show up to a start line feeling like you’re at a disadvantage because you’re not wearing a certain brand’s super shoe — every company is churning out exceptionally fast footwear. Here are the shoes that stepped atop the podium at the 2025 Boston Marathon.
Top 3 men
🥇 Asics Metaspeed Sky Prototype
John Korir (KEN) — 2:04:45
We’ve already known the Asics Metaspeed racing shoes (there are two variants) like to get up and go. It looks like the work-in-progress is no slouch, as Korir wore a development shoe to break the tape. World Athletics, the governing body that sets rules for running footwear, shows two Asics prototypes approved for competition—‘ME4 Type-1’ and ‘ME4 Type-P’. It appears Korir wore the Sky version, based on visual cues which indicate the placement of the carbon-fibre plate.
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🥈🥉 Adidas Adios Pro Evo 2
Alphonce Felix Simbu (TZA) — 2:05:04; CyBrian Kotut (KEN) — 2:05:04
In a near photo finish, Simbu and Kotut were nearly mirror images. Both wore the same Adidas singlet, socks, and Adidas Adios Pro Evo 2 shoes. The shoe isn’t yet available to us non-pros, but it’s an update to the £450 racer that launched last year.
Top 3 women
🥇 Under Armour Velociti Elite 3 Prototype
Sharon Lokedi (KEN) — 2:17:22
Sharon Lokedi moved up a spot in this year’s standings and claimed the laurel wreath. The Under Armour star laced up a development shoe that’s approved by World Athletics, but we don’t have details on the shoe to share yet.
🥈 On Cloudboom Strike LS
Hellen Obiri (KEN) — 2:17:41
Obiri donned one of the hottest shoes of last fall. The On Cloudboom Strike LS is a laceless shoe that’s created by a robot in just three minutes.
🥉 Nike Alphafly 3
Yalemzerf Yehualaw (ETH) — 2:18:06
Rounding out the women’s podium is the Alphafly 3. I saw (and heard) a lot of them on the course, nearly an hour behind Yehualaw.
