The Nike-sponsored Melbourne Marathon festival has apologised for posting an edited image of a winning runner with the logo of a sports apparel rival obscured.
The image depicted Leanne Pompeani with her arms outstretched after she won the half-marathon but the Asics logo on her running singlet was rubbed out.
Images on the event’s Instagram account also featured the four-time Olympian and winner of the women’s marathon, Genevieve Gregson, but minus a Puma logo from her running kit.
The Melbourne Marathon festival said in a statement that the images used in the posts were errors.
“We apologise to the affected parties and will be revising our internal processes to ensure this does not happen again.”
Guardian Australia understands no athletes complained to the marathon about the images, which were later replaced online with the unedited versions.
A record 42,000 runners participated in Sunday’s running festival, which was sponsored by major sporting brand Nike.
A Nike spokesperson told the ABC it “did not direct changes or alterations to any images”.
“We understand the image in question has since been corrected,” a spokesperson said.
