Abbott (NYSE: ABT) announced today it is teaming up with Eliud Kipchoge, who is considered the world’s fastest marathon runner, and the NN Running Team to support their athletic performance training program. Kipchoge and three NN Running Team members are training with Abbott’s Libre Sense Glucose Sport Biosensor to monitor their glucose levels to help them achieve optimal athletic performance. The NN Mission Marathon, a qualifying race for the Olympic Games, in Enschede, the Netherlands on April 18, will be the first time Kipchoge and the NN Running Team will use Abbott’s biosensor in a competitive marathon.
“Using Abbott’s Libre Sense has transformed my training program. I am learning how my glucose levels relate to my running performance and have already started to see how quickly small adjustments can make a big difference,” said Eliud Kipchoge, the world’s fastest marathon runner. “I am honored to work on this project, which hopefully will help athletes around the world to better understand the relationship between nutrition and performance to help them improve.”
Kipchoge is celebrated as the greatest marathon runner in history as a three-time Olympic medal winner and the first person in history to run a marathon in under two hours. To maintain elite performance, Kipchoge and the NN Running Team continually seek to innovate across all aspects of their training program, evaluating everything from race planning, nutrition and hydration to clothing and footwear. As the first product of its kind, Abbott’s biosensor empowers the runners to tap into real-time molecular data to monitor their glucose levels and help them design personalized nutrition plans.
“We’ve utilized our breakthrough sensing technology to help world-class athletes like Eliud and everyday athletes alike live up to their optimal potential,” said Duncan Williams, divisional vice president, Biosensor Technology, Abbott. “Libre Sense will help make glucose monitoring commonplace in athletic performance training and enable athletes to fuel their peak performance.”
Abbott’s Libre Sense, CE Marked in September 2020, is an over-the-counter product made available in Europe that is designed to provide continuous glucose monitoring via a mobile appiii and wrist readersiv to athletes. Athletes wear the small round biosensor (approximately the size of a two Euro coin) on the back of their upper arm. Worn for up to 14 days, the biosensor provides real-time glucose values through a mobile app developed by Supersapiens, a sports technology company focused on improving athletic performance. Abbott’s biosensor and Supersapiens app are designed to help athletes understand the efficacy of their nutrition choices in training and competition.
Abbott is providing Kipchoge and the NN Running Team members with Abbott’s biosensors for training, as well as collaborating to develop personalized insights into their athletic performance. Kipchoge and the NN Running Team will provide key learnings, share their experiences and educate athletes worldwide to better understand the link between nutrition and performance.
To prepare for the NN Mission Marathon, their last competitive marathon before the Olympic Games, Eliud and the NN Running Team have been training in Kenya using Libre Sense for the past month.
“After training with Abbott’s biosensor, we’ve been able to quickly develop new insights into high-performance, endurance training nutrition and hydration. For example, we are exploring a shift in timing of pre-race and race-time carbohydrate fueling to net maximum benefits,” said Valentijn Trouw, performance director of NN Running Team and Global Sports Communications. “Abbott’s biosensor enables us to build personalized nutrition plans based on glucose data in order to deliver peak athletic performance and a competitive advantage. The NN Mission Marathon will be an excellent opportunity to show how important glucose insights can make a real difference in performance.”
Watch Kipchoge and the NN Running Teams training sessions in Kenya with the Abbott biosensor below:
