Based on recent history, one might expect the world’s fastest shoe to be adorned with a certain Swoosh, but Puma is asking runners to think twice before making that assumption.
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Ahead of this year’s Boston Marathon, the brand boldly claimed that its aptly named Fast-R Nitro Elite 3 is the fastest model in the world, and teamed up with the University of Massachusetts Amherst to back up its lofty claim.
In lab tests, Puma’s super shoe was found to improve running efficiency by roughly 3.15 to 3.62 percent, compared with top-tier super-shoes from other brands.
While any one of the Fast-R Nitro Elite 3’s notable attributes (including its weight drop of 3.5 ounces, addition of NitroFoam Elite and optimized carbon plate and midsole geometry) could be the basis for its gains, the study’s lead researcher, Dr. Wouter Hoogkamer, says the enhanced performance is more likely due to the way Puma “mixed the ingredients.”
