Nairobi, May 6 -- In the past week, a wave of scepticism has followed the record-breaking, history-defining performance at the London Marathon, where not only the winner, Sabastian Sawe, but the entire podium surpassed the previous world record set by the late Kelvin Kiptum.

Critics have rushed to explain away the feat, pointing to two main factors: advanced footwear technology and modern carbohydrate fuelling strategies. Yet, while both elements undeniably contribute to performance, reducing such an achievement solely to them oversimplifies the evolution of sport.

The first argument-centred on footwear-is hardly new. It has persisted since the dawn of the "super-shoe" era, widely associated with the release of the Nike Vaporfly 4 perce...