What Coros Watch was Eliud Kipchoge Wearing in Berlin?

Which Watch?

As running shoe and gear nerds, major marathons are always a great time to see what kind of new things are in development. Whether we’re watching it on a bootleg streaming channel or in person in the start corral, we’re always scoping out shoe prototypes or gear upgrades on the bodies of elites.

Of course, the talk of the 2023 Berlin Marathon was the all-new Adidas Adizero Adios Pro Evo 1, the featherweight shoe with a heavyweight price tag worn by Tigist Assefa as she smashed the women’s world record. There was also the Nike Alphafly Next% 3 (or 4?) prototype that Eliud Kipchoge wore en route to a record fifth Berlin Marathon win, further cementing his status as the greatest marathoner of all time.

What some people may not have noticed (but we did), was the watch Kipchoge was wearing throughout the race. While it was a bit hard to see the details mid-run, there was a part in the pre-race coverage where the cameras cut to a close-up of him tapping the watch. Now, we can confirm it was a Coros watch since that’s his sponsor. But which Coros was it?

At first, we thought it was just the Coros Pace 2 EK edition with a new, “colors of Kenya”-inspired watch strap. That watch was a limited edition release back in 2021, featuring a red, white, and green color palette, and some nice additional bonus add-ons included in the product packaging.

However, after screen-shotting the above photo, we compared it to the Pace 3, which we recently reviewed. The details appear to be relatively comparable, with obvious changes in the color palette and again, the zig-zag, Kenyan-colored strap. While we can’t confirm for sure whether or not this is another EK drop from Coros, it would make sense that they’d follow up the Pace 3 launch with another Kipchoge special edition, the same way they followed the Apex 2 Pro launch with a Kilian Jornet Chamonix edition. 

One thing’s for sure– we love the look of this version. The black bezel on top of an off-white face with the red and green buttons looks much better than the original Pace 2. We were also never huge fans of the strap that came included with the first EK edition, and honestly thought the design was a bit lazy. This new version appears to be much improved.

If this is indeed the Pace 3, we can tell you that it’s probably the best value to performance GPS option on the market right now. It’s Meaghan’s go-to watch for all her training, while Thomas and myself use the Apex 2 Pro (even though the Pace 3 really has everything we need). And while the EK edition will probably run a bit more than the base model price of $229 since it’s likely to be a limited release, the value will be there for those looking for a unique piece. 

If we hear any more news about the watch, we’ll be sure to update with release dates and details.