The super shoe frenzy just got even more intense: Nike recently announced the Apex, the brand’s latest elite marathon racer. The Apex won’t go on sale until January 7, 2027, but pros are already wearing it—and it’s already on the podium. Here’s what you need to know about this soon-to-be-released super shoe.
From a distance, the Apex follows the same general design as the Alphafly models before it: an airy mesh upper over a thick foam midsole with a carbon fiber plate and Zoom Air units in the forefoot. But the Apex has some major updates compared to its forebears. The most obvious: This shoe features four Zoom Air units, arranged in two sets stacked on top of each other, in the forefoot (the Alphafly 4 has only two such units).
The ZoomX LT foam, a revised PEBA-based material also used in the Alphafly 4, returns in the Apex, but Nike tweaked the carbon fiber plate design to guide your foot forward onto the Zoom Air units for maximum responsiveness and propulsion. All that adds up to a shoe that weighs a feathery 5.9 ounces in men’s size 10. The Apex is a zero-drop shoe, measuring an even 40mm across at both the heel and forefoot.
No other super shoe on the market has a zero-drop platform; even Altra, a brand famous for its zero-drop models, gave its top-tier racer a 4mm drop. Nike claims the flat footbed provides a more balanced ride and lets the brand pack more cushioning into the Apex without breaking the World Athletics 40mm stack height limit. Super shoes aren’t designed for durability, but Nike definitely wants you to save the Apex for race day only.
In the shoe’s official press release, the brand notes it’s designed “to serve runners for at least 100 kilometers.” That means you can expect to cover about 62 miles in these kicks before they start to wear out. As usual, Nike makes bold claims about its new design, but the stats for the Apex are particularly impressive. Nike reports the new shoe generates up to 40% more energy return than the Alphafly 3 (the brand didn’t offer a comparison with the Alphafly 4) and weighs 10% less in a men’s size 10.
All that performance comes with an eye-watering price tag: This shoe will retail for $360 per pair. Pros are already putting the Apex to work, and it has seen success—both the third place men’s and third place women’s finishers in the Chicago Marathon wore Apexes. The rest of us will have to wait until January to try the Apex, but the Alphafly 4, now Nike’s No. 2 racing model, goes on sale on Oct. 29.
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