Vienna Marathon winner disqualified for wearing illegal shoes

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It’s gotta be the shoes.

Ethiopian runner Derara Hurisa thought he had come away with a victory at the Vienna Marathon on Sunday but was disqualified from the race after a discrepancy over his footwear.

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Hurisa won the race by a 3-second margin but was told later the soles of his shoes were 1 centimeter (0.4 inches) thicker than the maximum 4 centimeters allowed. Apparently, Hurisa had registered shoes that were in compliance with race rules but switched his sneakers he used to train to run the marathon.

"We also stressed in the technical meeting the rules about the shoes. Unfortunately, we had no other choice than disqualifying the athlete," race coordinator Johannes Langer said, via Reuters.

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Ethiopia's Derara Hurisa celebrates after thinking he had won the race. (REUTERS/Leonhard Foeger)

"It's the first time something like this has happened. I'm pretty sure that from now on there will be some form of checks to avoid something like this to happen again in a major race."

Kenya’s Leonard Langat, who finished in second place, was declared the winner. He said he had "no clue" about Hurisa’s disqualification until race officials told him.

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Langat ran the marathon in 2 hours, 9 minutes, 25 seconds. Ethiopia’s Betesfa Getahun and Kenya’s Edwin Kosgei rounded out the top three after Hurisa’s disqualification.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.