In this article we take a look and assess the latest information about Nike’s newest racing shoe, supposedly called the Nike Streakfly.
Any new racing shoe from Nike is always hotly anticipated, whether it be leaks online or the mysterious unreleased pictures of elite Nike athletes that legions of fans pour over to get the latest information on the newest shoe technology.
Updated Nike Streakfly Article
Right now, Nike arguably own the best road racing shoe on the planet, the Nike Vaporfly Next%, which, incidentally, has just received its own upgrade to the Next% 2. Before that, came the elusive Nike Vaporfly 4% Flyknit and there is no doubt that Nike possess the most competitive spike around too, in the Nike Dragonfly.
Before the era of high performance ‘super shoes’, Nike had a staple racing flat that was everyone’s go to, the ‘Streak’. The Streak hasn’t been upgraded however since the advent of these aforementioned high-tech shoes burst onto the market. Until now. It appears that, with the expected name being ‘Streakfly’, Nike have finally decided to give the old chief a much-needed makeover.
What do we know already?
Well, we know it has a carbon fibre plate and a midsole full of ZoomX foam, Nike’s premium racing foam. Unfortunately, this makes it illegal on the track, due to it being over the 25mm allowed stack height.
Aside from that, the rest is speculation. The pictures we have seen suggests that it has an upper material similar to the AtomKnit found on the Alphafly, the tongue appears to have undergone a complete redesign and the lockdown lace system seems similar to the Alphafly too. We also know that the stack height is considerably less than both the Vaporfly Next % and the Alphafly – perhaps more akin to the Vaporfly 4% that started the whole super shoe thing in the first place.
The tongue itself seems to have more of a dip and is certainly positioned in a more central area in comparison to the Vaporfly. Even the position of Nike ‘swoosh’ differs, most of the training pictures from the USA suggest that the swoosh will be oversize and extend onto the forefoot, similar to the Vaporfly, whereas the version we saw on Cheptegei’s feet had a swoosh exclusively on the side of the shoe, extending into the midsole.
Are there different versions?
Most interestingly of all, there seems to be quite a few different versions of this shoe floating around on the internet. There are the ones we’ve seen on Donovan Brazier’s feet, the bizarre looking red ones that were spotted on Mo Farah’s feet and, of course, we’ve seen Joshua Cheptegei sporting what looked like a pair of Streakflys in the lead up to the Monaco 5k in February.
However, there’s a twist. Intent on keeping us guessing, the shoes we have seen been used by athletes training in the USA, have been named the ‘Hyperfly’ and the one Joshua Cheptegei was wearing looked very similar to the leaked designed of the Next % 2. Confused? Yes, us too. The question we’re all asking therefore is will the Hyperfly become the premium 5k and 10k racing shoe and the Streakfly will just replace the Streak? Honestly, we’re not really sure.
Our best guess is that the Streakfly and the Hyperfly are the same shoe. In fact, on the World Athletics website, which contains lists of all the upcoming prototype shoes, there is just one Nike shoe named, the Nike ‘Streakfly’.
When does it come out and how does it stack up against the Vaporfly?
Our prediction is that the shoe will be released to the public around May/June time as more road races begin to be organised following the successful deployment of covid-19 vaccines. We know some elite athletes already have them, in fact Joshua Cheptegei received a pair 2 days prior to the Monaco 5k but, given that they were so new, he stuck with the Vaporfly for the race.
Providing there are road races, we would expect the shoe to debut for elite athletes over the next month. There were rumours that the RAK Half Marathon would be its first outing, but unfortunately that was cancelled.
Let us know your predictions on this shoe’s capabilities in the comments below and how you think it will compare to Nike’s existing range of road racing shoes. Also, send us your thoughts on how the anticipated shoe will hold up against Adidas’ ‘Super Shoes’, specifically, the Adidas Adios Adizero Pro. And now a new fan favourite, The Asics Metaspeed sky.