In production · road · Race day · $260
The lightest way to run 26.2. Carbon plate, ZoomX, zero interest in easy days.
Built for race day, at a target pace of 5:00–7:30 /mi on road.
The midsole is ZoomX, tuned soft (4/5 on our cushioning scale). The foam is highly resilient — it gives energy back rather than swallowing it, which is what makes the shoe feel eager when you push. 35 mm of heel stack is the modern daily-trainer sweet spot — enough foam for long miles without losing contact with the road. Combined, the ride reads as explosive at 5/5 responsiveness.
A full-length carbon plate stiffens the forefoot and works with the foam as a lever: it smooths the transition off the toes and cuts the effort of holding fast paces. It also asks for speed — at easy paces a carbon plate feels stiff and does little for you, and it is the main reason super-shoes wear out sooner than trainers.
A 6 mm drop is the mainstream middle — familiar to almost anyone coming from a standard trainer. The rocker is aggressive: the sole is curved and stiff enough to tip you into the next stride on its own, which saves the calf on long runs but feels strange when you slow right down. The forefoot is stiff, so it rolls rather than bends — a lever, not a slipper. It is a neutral platform with no built-in correction.
The toe-box is narrow and performance-oriented; wide-footed runners should try before buying. It runs small; most runners size up a half. Expect roughly 200 miles from the outsole, about $1.30 per mile at $260.
For the foams and plates Nike uses across its line, read the Nike brand guide.
Measured against the 542 currently-available shoes in the catalog. The bar shows where this shoe sits in that range.
Weight
184 g / 6.5 oz
91 g lighter than the catalog median of 275 g
Heel stack
35 mm
1 mm lower than the catalog median of 36 mm
Drop
6 mm
Level with the catalog median of 6 mm
Price
$260
100 pricier than the catalog median of 160
Responsiveness
5 / 5
Catalog median 3 / 5
Cushioning
4 / 5
Catalog median 4 / 5
Energy return
5 / 5
Catalog median 3 / 5
Durability
~200 mi
Catalog median ~400 mi
Within the Nike line it is lighter than the brand's median (295 g / 10.4 oz) and sits lower than its median stack (36 mm).
Current shoes with the nearest combination of weight, stack, drop, foam feel and plate.
Under Armour Velociti Elite 3
195 g / 6.9 oz · 39 mm · 6 mm drop · Carbon · $250
UA's featherweight carbon racer, all rocker and snap.
Asics Metaspeed Edge Paris(2024)
183 g / 6.5 oz · 39 mm · 5 mm drop · Carbon · $250
The cadence-runner's Metaspeed: firmer toe-off, quicker turnover.
Asics Metaspeed Sky Paris(2024)
183 g / 6.5 oz · 40 mm · 5 mm drop · Carbon · $250
Built for stride-length runners: light, bouncy and unapologetically a racer.
On Cloudboom Strike LS
190 g / 6.7 oz · 38 mm · 4 mm drop · Carbon · $330
Spray-on upper and carbon Speedboard — On's flagship marathon racer.