The Craziest Sneaker Ever Seen
On and Hellen Obiri are taking the running-shoe game to a whole new level. Yes, spray-on shoes are happening.
As soon as Hellen Obiri, the Kenyan distance runner and two-time Olympic silver medalist, takes her place on the starting line of the Olympic marathon in Paris next month, she will make history — though not for the reason you may assume.
For her shoes.
See, Ms. Obiri will be wearing the Cloudboom Strike LS, a new sneaker from On, the upstart Swiss brand started in 2010. But it doesn’t look like any sneaker anyone has ever seen.
“The first time I saw the shoes, I said, ‘No,’” Ms. Obiri said. “‘I can’t run with these.’” The shoes had no laces. They had no heel cap — a hard plate at the back kept the foot in place. They were made of a weird, stretchy, plastic-y material.
“In the changing room, even my colleagues were saying, ‘It’s a joke,’” Ms. Obiri said. “They were saying, “‘You can’t use these shoes for a marathon.’”