Nike (NKE) emerged as the real winner of the 2017 Boston Marathon on Monday, despite falling short on its one key goal.
In the marathon's 121st year, Nike sponsored athlete Geoffrey Kirui of Kenya won the men's foot race with a time of 2:09:37 and Edna Kiplagat, also of Kenya, won the women's foot race in 2:21:52, according to Footwear News.
Nike said the athletes were sporting sneakers from its line of Nike Zoom Vaporfly Elite, which will be released to select retailers on June 8.
Meet the winners of the #BostonMarathon races https://t.co/THOHxPxiHB pic.twitter.com/OX4jQCRZoF
— CBS News (@CBSNews) April 17, 2017
The one downfall here is that Nike boasted that its Zoom line - consisting of the Nike Zoom Vaporfly 4%, Nike Zoom Fly and the Nike Air Zoom Pegasus 34 - allows runners to "break the two-hour marathon barrier." That was not the case at the Boston Marathon.
Still, five of the six Boston Marathon runners standing on the winner's podium on Monday were wearing a pair of Nike's Zoom sneakers - a definite PR feat over competitors such as Adidas (ADDYY) and Under Armour (UA) .
The move came, too, after Adidas dethroned Nike for the first time in more than a decade as having the top-selling sneaker in the U.S. last year.
READ MORE: This Is the New $220 Sneaker Nike Says Was Its Most Successful Release In Its History
