Nike Zoom Vaporfly 4%

About

The Nike Zoom Vaporfly 4% is a carbon-plated racing shoe released in 2017 with a retail price of $250. It grew out of Nike's Breaking2 project, a 2014 initiative aimed at breaking the two-hour marathon barrier. Eliud Kipchoge wore the non-retail Nike Zoom Vaporfly Elite during the Breaking2 attempt at Monza, Italy, in May 2017, ahead of the Vaporfly 4%'s public release that summer. The shoe pairs a ZoomX midsole, a modified Pebax foam that Nike says returns roughly 13% more energy than its earlier Cushlon foam, with a full-length carbon fiber plate for added propulsion, on a 21mm stack height with a 9mm heel-to-toe offset and a Flyknit upper. Independent studies, including a 2018 New York Times analysis and a 2019 follow-up review, found the shoe improved running economy by around 4%, the source of its name. The performance gains sparked a technology-doping debate in distance running, and in January 2020 World Athletics introduced new rules capping sole thickness at 40mm and limiting embedded plates, a direct response to the Vaporfly line's dominance on the marathon circuit.