Eliud Kipchoge's Nike running shoes collapsed spectacularly while he was running in Sunday's Berlin Marathon.
Kipchoge went on to win the Berlin Marathon, but he missed out on securing the world record by just 63 seconds. For Kipchoge, the most frustrating part must have been the way it finished - with the insoles in the Nike running shoes that he was wearing flopping out of his shoe heels during the race.
According to Runner's World, the 30-year-old long distance runner noticed that there was something wrong with his shoes at the beginning of the race. By the 10 mile mark, the insoles in his shoes were visibly popping out of the shoes and were flopping against his ankles.
Kipchoge battled on, but the shoes had taken their toll on him. He said that the pain and discomfort had become a great distraction during the 26.2-mile race - a race which boasted Adidas as one of its sponsors.
"It was not easy," Kipchoge told Runner's World. "There are blisters on the left foot and my big toe is cut, with lots of blood."
His anger with his shoes was obvious; after the race, Kipchoge had to stop himself from throwing his shoes under a bus.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Kipchoge's sponsorship arrangement with Nike will not be affected by the incident and will continue, despite the fault of the shoe's "sockliner."
Nike claimed that the embarrassing failure during the race was due to the fact that Kipchoge had been testing a new prototype shoe for them.