This Elite Ran a Half Marathon in Mismatched Shoes—and Still Took Silver

At first glance, Brian Kipchumba’s runner-up finish at the 2025 Geneva Half Marathon seemed like a routine result in another Kenyan-dominated road race.

But when he stepped onto the podium, onlookers noticed something unusual: he was wearing two different shoes, an ASICS on one foot, an Adidas on the other.

Turns out, it wasn’t a bold fashion statement or a technical experiment. It was a simple matter of necessity.

“I had to use them because I had no other option,” Kipchumba said after the race.

No Sponsor, No Spare Pair

Unlike most elite runners, Kipchumba isn’t backed by a shoe sponsor.

That means no free stash of racing flats, no last-minute replacements, and no brand manager to ship gear across Europe overnight.

He had two shoes in decent condition—neither a full pair—and he needed to race. So, Kipchumba reportedly packed one shoe from his training pair and one from his competition pair.

He’d also raced the day before at the Grand Prix von Bern—yet still ran a 1:05:19 for second place in Geneva, just behind Leonard Kipngeno Bor, who won in a personal best of 1:01:45.

It’s the kind of situation that highlights how uneven the professional running world can be.

While top-tier athletes have access to the latest carbon-plated super shoes, others like Kipchumba are figuring it out on their own, sometimes literally on the fly.

Kenyan Dominance, Again

The Geneva race was another showcase for Kenyan talent. Bor and Kipchumba went 1-2 in the men’s half marathon, while the women’s half marathon podium was an all-Kenyan sweep led by Lucy Nthenya, who ran a PB of 1:08:59. In the full marathon, Collins Kemboi won the men’s race in 2:11:37, with debutant Irene Korir finishing third in the women’s marathon at 2:39:40.