Nike leaves Vaporfly out of its new fastest shoe family as Apex takes centre stage with double-stacked Air Zoom, 40% more energy return and zero-drop geometry

Nike has spent the past couple of years tearing up and rebuilding its running shoe range, and now it’s turning its attention to its fastest shoes.

The brand has unveiled what it calls its new “race-day system of speed”, a three-shoe family comprising the cream-of-the-crop Nike Apex, the now-demoted Alphafly 4 and the super-trainer Swooshfly.

Interestingly, the Vaporfly, arguably the shoe that started the modern super-shoe revolution, isn’t part of it.

The Vaporfly isn't going anywhere, though; Nike says the new system complements its wider road-running range rather than replacing it.

The shoes' omission is significant, particularly because Nike is making the roles of these three new racers unusually clear.

Four Air units and no heel-to-toe drop

At the sharp end sits the all-new Nike Apex, which Nike describes as its “pinnacle expression of race-day innovation”, aimed at marathon runners chasing every possible second.

Apex is the first Nike racing shoe to use two double-stacked Air Zoom units, effectively putting four Air units beneath the forefoot.

The company says this is the most Air it has ever used in the forefoot of one of its running shoes, and a clear expression of what Nike has been talking about earlier this year in Cortina.

Those units sit alongside new ZoomX LT foam, a redesigned carbon-fibre Flyplate and a lightweight Flyknit X upper.

Nike claims the combination produces up to 40% more energy return (!) than the Alphafly 3 in a men’s size 10, while Apex itself weighs more than 10% less.

Those are Nike's laboratory figures, but they're nevertheless striking numbers.

Apex has a 40mm stack at both the heel and forefoot, giving it zero drop, highly unusual for a modern marathon super shoe.

A wider outsole, rocker geometry and specially tuned carbon plate are intended to keep that tall platform stable while driving the runner forward.

ZoomX LT is also described as softer and lighter than regular ZoomX and returns more energy, while the inverse-wave Flyplate is shaped specifically to load the stacked Air Zoom units beneath it.

Nike’s running reset reaches race day

Back in 2024, the company completely reorganised its everyday road-running range around Pegasus, Vomero and Structure, simplifying things into responsive, maximum and supportive cushioning categories.

At the time, Alphafly and Vaporfly sat outside that restructuring as Nike’s established racing options. Now, essentially, race day is getting the same treatment.

Apex is aimed at runners chasing maximum marathon performance, while the Alphafly 4 is the more broadly accessible long-distance racer, balancing responsiveness with comfort, stability and efficiency.

The also-new Swooshfly is intended as an invitation into super shoes for runners tackling their first race or chasing a new goal.

The Swooshfly combines new SkyX supercritical foam with a tailored carbon Flyplate and Vaporweave upper, yet Nike claims it delivers up to 16% more energy return than Vaporfly 4 in a men's size 10.

Nike wants its racing crown back

Nike helped create the modern super-shoe era, and Air remains central to how the company thinks about performance.

When I visited the Nike: Form Follows Motion exhibition in 2024, Nike VP of Footwear Innovation Tony Bignell told me there was “no other material” that offered the same energy return as Air.

Even back then, the company was already talking about graduating Air as a technology for serious performance.

Since then, however, rivals have kept pushing. Adidas in particular has turned its featherweight Adizero Adios Pro Evo project into a formidable marathon platform, culminating in two official sub-two-hour marathon performances in London earlier this year.

Against that backdrop, Apex appears to be Nike planting a flag at the extreme end of marathon footwear again while simultaneously reorganising everything underneath it.

The Alphafly 4 arrives in October 2026, Apex follows in January 2027, and Swooshfly launches first in China in February, followed by a wider global release in spring 2027.