Eliud Kipchoge Advertisement - Continue Reading Below Olympic Marathon on Saturday. He dropped out of the race after the 30K (18.64 mile) split and was seen on the NBC broadcast clutching his side at times. He later cited back pain as his reason for dropping out.
If you watched the race, you might have noticed a new accessory he was wearing—at least, new for him. The two-time Olympic marathon champion was sporting an Omius cooling headband. In fact, numerous top athletes in the race were rocking it. Bashir Abdi, who won the silver medal, wore the headband during the race (he took it off for the awards), as did Abdi Nageeye—the silver medalist from the Tokyo Games, who did not finish in Paris.
The weather was warm in Paris, although it wasn’t a scorcher. Temperatures hovered in the mid-to-high 60s throughout the race, with sunny skies. Portions of the course had decent shade.
According to the Omius website, the technology works by when sweat is absorbed into the little squares on the front of the headband.
“The amplified cooling effect of the Omius technology comes from water being absorbed into the cooling pieces where it has 5x more surface area for evaporation. The transformation of water from a liquid to a gas on the surface of the graphite pulls heat from the inside of the cooling pieces which are in contact with the skin and thus cooling the skin.
Because the cooling effect is driven solely by water evaporation the effect will continue indefinitely as long as the cooling pieces are wet and have airflow across them.”
If you want to get your hands on the tech, it’s going to set you back about $200. But if you’re gunning for your own big goals, it may be worth the investment.
Other Olympic-level athletes have tried out the cooling accessory recently, which has been more commonly used in triathlons. Last week, the winner of the men’s 20K race walk, Brian Pintado of Ecuador, was spotted Advertisement - Continue Reading Below was seen wearing a visor version before February’s Olympic Marathon Trials in Orlando, Florida.
A Part of Hearst Digital Media Runner’s World. He’s a former all-conference collegiate runner who has reported on the ground at major events such as the Paris Olympics, U.S. Olympic Trials, and Boston Marathon. He’s run 14:20 in the 5K and enjoys spotting tracks from the sky on airplanes. (Look for colorful ovals around football fields.)
