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- Upper
- Flyknit
- Released
- 2023
- Cushioning
- Zoomx
ZoomX VaporFly Next% 3 Prototype
ZoomX VaporFly Next% 3 Prototype
- Upper
- Flyknit
- Released
- 2023
- Cushioning
- Zoomx
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Culture Note™
Released on 1 April 2023 and part of Nike's ZoomX VaporFly Next% 3 line. This release has a flyknit upper in White/Black/Phantom/Pure Platinum/Sail/Total Orange. The Vaporfly launched in 2017 and changed distance running by pairing ZoomX, Nike's altered Pebax foam and the lightest and most responsive in its range, with a full length carbon fibre plate designed to add spring to every step. Peer research found the combination could improve marathon times by up to 4.2 percent, a number large enough to start arguments that are still running. A Prototype make up of the Next Percent 3 leans on that history deliberately: it looks like something out of testing rather than out of a shop, and testing is precisely where this shoe's reputation was built, on feet trying to do something nobody had done.
Two uses, both narrow. One, race day: half marathons and marathons, and nothing slower than your target pace, because the plate and foam only pay you back when you are moving. Two, sharpening: a handful of tempo sessions before a goal race so your legs learn the platform, not every workout. Do not use these as daily trainers, and do not run in them in heavy rain if you can avoid it, because thin racing uppers hold water and lose shape. Never machine wash. Brush lightly, air dry in shade, store flat, and expect the foam to give up its bounce long before the upper falls apart.
The Vaporfly is the rare product that forced a sport to rewrite its rulebook. After the shoe reached the top of marathon running, World Athletics issued rules on 31 January 2020 that limited sole thickness, allowed only one rigid plate and required shoes to have been available at open retail for four months before competition, which was aimed squarely at prototype only advantages. That last clause is why a shoe styled as a prototype is a knowing joke. Nike's competitive edge has always come from engineering plus nerve, from Bowerman's waffle sole onward, and the Vaporfly is the sharpest example of both.
This is a race day shoe, not a trainer, and it is built accordingly: ZoomX foam for the lightest and most responsive cushioning Nike makes, and a full length carbon fibre plate through the midsole to generate return at speed. The trade offs are real. Racing foams wear faster than training foams, the platform feels unstable if you run slowly or land inconsistently, and the thin upper is built for weight rather than durability. Rules matter here too: World Athletics set limits on 31 January 2020 capping sole thickness at 40mm with one rigid plate, and compliant Vaporfly models remain legal for competition.
- Upper
- Flyknit
- Released
- 2023
- Cushioning
- Zoomx
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