While adidas certainly the hot hand in the supershoe wars, Nike wants to remind everyone who started this whole thing. The original Vaporfly kicked off the carbon-plate era nearly a decade ago, and for a while, the Swoosh owned every marathon conversation worth having. Then adidas got hot, culminating in a clean sweep of all six podium spots at Berlin just a few days ago (not to mention the first sub-two-hour marathon earlier this year).
Now Beaverton has fired back with the Nike Apex, its new top-of-the-food-chain marathon racer.
Four Air Bags and a 40 Percent Claim
The headline act is a forefoot that’s equipped with a total of four Air Zoom units arranged in two stacked pair. It’s noteworthy in and of itself as it’s the most Air Nike has ever crammed into the front of a running shoe. It’s all visible through a window in the midsole, glowing red and green like some kind of race-day reactor core.
Surrounding that platform is ZoomX LT, a new race-specific foam that’s softer and lighter than standard ZoomX, plus there’s a redesigned inverse-wave carbon fiber Flyplate shaped to drive load directly into the Air units. The result, at least according to Nike, is up to 40 percent more energy return than the record-setting Alphafly 3 while also weighing more than 10 percent less.
Zero Drop, Maximum Loophole
The Apex runs a zero-drop geometry with 40mm of stack at both the heel and forefoot, which just so happens to be the exact ceiling World Athletics allows.
Leveling the platform means every legal millimeter gets filled with responsive material, and shows us exactly how serious the competition between Nike and adidas is about to get.
A sockliner-free Flyknit X upper paired with a skeletal GOATEK and Fast Shot outsole round out the rest of the shoe, which lands the whole package at 6.2 ounces.
The Adidas-Shaped Elephant in the Room
The Apex still gives up nearly three ounces to adidas’ 97-gram Adios Pro Evo 3, but it also costs about $150 less and will presumably survive more than one race. The real test comes in the next few weeks at the Nike-sponsored Chicago Marathon (October 11), where Conner Mantz set the American record last year in what was rumored to be an early Apex prototype.
The shoe now headlines a three-tier race-day lineup above the Alphafly 4 and the new budget-minded Swooshfly.
Spec Sheet
Model: Nike Apex
Category: Marathon racing shoe
Midsole: ZoomX LT foam with inverse-wave carbon fiber Flyplate
Air Units: 4x Air Zoom (two double-stacked forefoot pairs)
Stack Height: 40mm (heel and forefoot)
Drop: Zero
Upper: Flyknit X (sockliner-free construction)
Outsole: GOATEK and Fast Shot rubber
Weight: 6.2 oz (176 g, men’s US 8.5)
Claimed Energy Return: Up to 40% more than Alphafly 3
Price: $350
Release Date: January 2027
Pricing & Availability
The Nike Apex lands in January 2027 at $350, slotting in $70 above the Alphafly 4 and a full $150 under adidas’ single-use Evo 3. It’ll be available via nike.com and select retailers, so head over to Nike’s website to keep tabs on the exact drop date.
Recap
Nike Apex
Nike answers adidas’ marathon winning streak with the Apex, a zero-drop flagship racer stuffing four Air Zoom units under the forefoot and claiming 40 percent more energy return than the Alphafly 3 when it arrives in January 2027.
