I raced 10K in the Nike Vaporfly 4% to see how the original carbon shoe compares to today’s racers — here’s what I learned

Person holding the Nike Vaporfly 4%.

Before the Nike Vaporfly 4% racing shoes were generally low-stack ‘flats’ designed to be very lightweight and not much else.

Nowadays the best carbon plate running shoes are the racer of  choice for many runners, and they couldn’t look more different to flats, with high stacks of bouncy foam and a carbon plate running through the midsole.