Marathon Winner Disqualified: Running Shoe Ruled One Centimeter Too Thick

The winner of the Vienna City Marathon in Austria has been disqualified after organizers said his shoes were too thick.

What happened: After Ethiopian runner Derara Hurisa won the marathon on Sept. 12 with a time of 2:09:22, he was disqualified because the soles of his running shoes were one centimeter too thick, according to Bloomberg.

Officials say the soles of Hurisa’s shoes were five centimeters thick, the rules limited thickness to four centimeters. In photos, the shoe model appears to be the Adidas AG ADDYY Adizero Prime X. The second place finisher, Kenyan Leonard Langat, was awarded the victory. Langat ran the race in the Adidas Adizero Adios Pro model.

Why It’s Important: World Athletics, the governing body of track and field, has prohibited any running shoe with a sole thicker than 40 mm or that contains more than one plate from being used in competitions. The banned models are still allowed to be used for training and by athletes not considered elite.

Nike Inc NKE was the first company to add a carbon plate to the sole of its running sneakers. Other running shoe companies have added the same technology to their sneakers.