A Nike-sponsored study from the University of Colorado found that Nike’s Zoom Vaporfly was more efficient for runners than the Nike Zoom Streak 6 and Adidas’ Adizero Adios Boost 2.
Nike has said the Zoom Vaporfly enables athletes to use 4 percent less energy during their runs versus Nike’s previous top racing shoe, the Zoom Streak 6.
All 18 runners tested at the University of Colorado, Boulder’s “Locomotion Lab” had better running economy in the Vaporflys than when they ran in the Nike Zoom Streak 6 and Adidas Adios Boost 2.
“The prototype shoes lowered the energetic cost of running by 4 percent on average,” the researchers wrote. “We predict that with these shoes, top athletes could run substantially faster and achieve the first sub-2-hour marathon.”
The study was published the peer-reviewed journal Sports Medicine. A review of the study from Runner’s World is HERE.
Shalane Flanagan wore the Zoom Vaporfly in winning the 2017 New York Marathon, becoming the first American woman to win that marathon since 1977. She joined runners like Galen Rupp (2:09:20, Chicago), Edna Kiplagat (2:21:52, Boston) and Eliud Kipchoge (Berlin, Breaking2), all of whom won 2017’s biggest races in the Nike Zoom Vaporfly 4%.
