Nike just added two new shoes to its marathon racing lineup: the Apex and the Swooshfly. The Apex is a supercharged Alphafly designed for the fastest runners looking to shave every second off their time. The Swooshfly is more of an entry-level racer designed for people who want to race with a carbon plate but might feel intimidated by something like the Alphafly or Vaporfly.
Nike Apex
If you felt like the Alphafly 4 didn't seem innovative enough, this might be what you're looking for. The Apex takes the Alphafly up a notch. Instead of using ZoomX LT solely on the top layer, the Apex uses it top to bottom. It also double the amount of Air Zoom units. Stacking two on top of each other, it brings us to a grand total of 4 Air Zoom units in the forefoot. To help stabilize all this, it uses an even wider carbon Flyplate. Nike claims all of this works together to give you 40% more energy return compared to the Alphafly 3.
To fit all this tech into the shoe and still be within the 40mm World Athletics race limit, Nike decided to give it a 0mm drop meaning both the forefoot and heel are 40mm.
The upper uses new Flyknit X with a knit collar (giving me OG Vaporfly Elite vibes) combined with the removal of the sockliner to give a sock-like fit. The outsole features the new GoatTek rubber on the toe for grip and durability, while using Fast Shot rubber elsewhere to help keep weight down. Speaking of which, the Apex is almost half an ounce lighter than the Alphafly 4 (which is 6.6oz in M8.5).
It will be available in January 2027 for $350.
Nike Swooshfly
Moving from the top of the race lineup down to the bottom, we have the second new model, the Swooshfly. This shoe introduces new runners to race day tech while being more affordable and comfortable than Nike's other racing options. The main focus of this shoe was making it more durable, stable, and accommodating compared to typical race day shoes.
The midsole debuts a new foam: SkyX. This is a supercritical beaded TPU foam with zonal tuning (translation: softer in the heel firmer in the forefoot). Despite it being TPU, Nike claims it has 16 percent more energy return than the Vaporfly 4. It also features a carbon fiber plate, but it's thinner and more flexible than those found in the more elite models.
The upper is a nod to the original Vaporfly Next% using Vaporweave material. However, this version has more padding and more volume to help it be as comfortable as possible. The forefoot uses GoatTek rubber for extra grip, even in wet conditions.
It will be available in China in February 2027, and later in the world sometime in Spring 2027 for $145.
Nike's Race Lineup Final Thoughts
With these two new additions, Nike has a much more well rounded race lineup, but I couldn't help notice that Nike left out the Vaporfly, the original marathon super shoe, from any of its press releases. My assumption is that they aren't ready to announce a new model and wanted to focus on the new Fall and Spring stuff, but it's also possible that we may see a big redesign of the Vaporfly that makes it more focused on the half-marathon and below.
That being said, this is what Nike's current "Fly" lineup looks like:
- Apex: $350 Elite "Hyper Shoe"
- Alphafly 4: $280 Marathon Super Shoe
- Vaporfly 4: $270 10k-Marathon Super Shoe
- Streakfly 2: $190 5k-10k Super Shoe
- Zoom Fly 6: $180 Super Trainer
- Swooshfly: $145 Budget Marathon Racer
Hopefully we'll be able to test both the Apex and Swooshfly here at 9 to 5 Runners. We have pairs of the Alphafly 4 trickling in, and Cody already has his review written up. Check that out and stay tuned for more running news and reviews.
