Mysterious headband Sifan Hassan wore on way to Olympic gold

Omius product is designed to cool marathon runners and was used by Sifan Hassan, Hellen Obiri and Eliud Kipchoge at Paris 2024

New Olympic women’s marathon champion Sifan Hassan, double Olympic gold medallist Eliud Kipchoge and bronze medallist Hellen Obiri were seen wearing strange headbands during the Paris Olympic marathons, leaving spectators wondering what purpose these unusual pieces of apparel served.

Of course, elite athletes are no strangers to the latest hi-tech equipment and the Olympics serve as an ideal place to showcase products to a global audience.

Sifan Hassan and Tigist Assefa (Getty)

Over the years Kipchoge has worn Nike’s latest footwear innovations, dating back in Rio 2016 where he wore the first prototypes of the Nike ‘Next %’ shoes disguised as in-line products. This ultimately led to World Athletics ruling that all products should be available to all athletes.

In other marathons, Kipchoge has been seen sporting stick-on tape on his legs to aid airflow.

Eliud Kipchoge (Getty)

Obiri was wearing On’s latest footwear in the women’s Olympic marathon, the CloudBoom LS. The LS meaning LightSpray, is a unique upper created by spraying a polymer directly on to the midsole unit of the shoe to reduce weight and create a second-skin-like fit.

The £330 CloudBoom LS will be available to buy later this year, but a version without the LS upper is currently on sale.

READ MORE: Best marathon shoes for me and women

The headband both athletes wore was an OMIUS headband with 20 cooling pieces. The cooling pieces are graphite coated in a hydrophilic material that is said to “optimise the uptake and evaporation of the water that powers the cooling effect”.

Hellen Obiri (Getty)

The brand says the headband needs to be wet before use and “will cool indefinitely as long as they are wet” – the theory being that they act like a ‘heatsink’ seen in engineering equipment.