Fast Flats: U.S. Olympic Marathoners’ Racing Shoes

By Brian Metzler
Published Jul. 23, 2012
Updated Jul. 25, 2012 at 1:49 PM UTC

Not surprisingly, American Olympic marathoners will likely be wearing red, white and blue shoes during next month’s Olympic marathons. While not every athlete has revealed their exact shoe choice, here’s a sneak peak at what their race-day kicks might be, in order of each runner’s finishing place at the U.S. Olympic Trials Marathon in Houston last January.

Meb Keflezighi (Skechers)

When Skechers signed Keflezighi in the wake of Nike dropping him, the running world freaked out a bit. Skechers? Many people thought Keflezighi, then 36, was just taking a paycheck with a shoe brand desperate to get into the running market. Even if he was (and we’re not saying he did), Keflezighi and Skechers are the ones getting the last laugh, given that he’s lowered his personal best twice in the two marathons he’s run since signing with Skechers and running in the brand’s lightweight GORun model. Keflezighi won the U.S. Olympic Trials Marathon in January in a PB 2:09:08, which came about 10 weeks after a solid sixth-place showing in the New York City Marathon (where he’d set his previous best of 2:09:13). He’s 37 now, but few are counting him out anymore. Anyway, here’s a look at his custom Olympic model. A men’s size 9.0 weighs in at about 6.9 oz.

FILED UNDER: Olympic Games / Shoes and Gear TAGS: Abdi Abdirahman / Asics / Brooks / Desi Davila / Kara Goucher / Meb Keflezighi / Nike / Olympic Games / Ryan Hall / Shalane Flanagan / Skechers

Brian Metzler

Brian Metzler is the editor-in-chief of Competitor magazine. He has raced every distance from 50 yards to 100 miles and run in more than 700 pairs of running shoes in the past 25 years. You can reach him at bmetzler@competitorgroup.com.