TESTED: Under Armour’s New Super Shoe Has Comfort And Speed
Under Armour has joined the super shoe arms race – and it delivers!
When Kenyan Sharon Lokedi became only the second woman to win a marathon on debut at the New York marathon in 2022, she also made history for a brand making serious inroads in the world of elite road running. Running a pair of prototype Under Armour carbon-plated shoes, Lokedi, clocked an outstanding 2 hours 23 minutes 23 seconds to give the brand their first Marathon Major.
Now that same shoe is available in the form of the Under Armour FLOW Velociti Elite – a high performance super shoe designed to be fast and to compete with the best in the world.
I can’t think of any other super shoe I’ve ever tried which has quite the immediate ‘oh that’s nice’ pull-on comfort.
The Shoe
Every brand now needs a super shoe. Everyone wants to feel fast on race day, so brands need to keep up in the carbon-plated era. And the elite runners who are sponsored by the brands need the fastest shoes too. Brands may evangelise about supporting athletes, but the reality is, if you don’t get podium wins, you don’t look ‘fast’, and if you don’t look ‘fast’, then you lose out on sales. It’s all part of the same picture.
Enter the Under Armour Flow Velociti Elite – UA’s first super/carbon race shoe. The Flow Velociti Elite is marketed specifically at chasing marathon PBs, with a full-length carbon plate, and a dual-density midsole, with a cushioned Pebax (the gold standard of foams) layer on top of the plate, and UA’s proprietary supercritical Flow foam underneath. At 220g in a UK 8 it’s also pretty light and has an 8mm drop (the heel-to-toe stack being 39mm/ 31mm).
What is the Under Armour Velociti Elite like to run in?
I’ve run around 160km in the Velociti Elite, ranging from slow plods to some track reps, tempo runs and longer run efforts. A few runs in, I realised that this shoe backs up my theory that we now need a whole separate category of ‘super shoes that don’t feel like super shoes’. Indeed, they don’t look like super shoes either . They look, in fact, quite traditional. The colourway may not be particularly traditional, but the overall construction (at least in terms of styling) is.
Whereas some of the super shoes get rid of weight by removing elements that add comfort – a touch of padding on the heel, or on the tongue, for example – the Velociti Elite retains these features, so sure, you get a few more grams, but it’s also super comfy to run in. What they lack in that ‘catapault you off your toes’ feel, they do make up for in comfort. And over 42km that might end up being more important. A fast shoe, after all, is only fast if you don’t end up hobbling over the finish line with a shredded achilles or similar.
They are also far more ‘stable’ than some carbon plate shoes. There’s none of the wobbliness here that you might get cornering in other super shoes – or the fear for your ankles that goes with that. They feel plush on the inside, but slightly skewed towards firm in terms of ground contact, so if what you miss in modern super shoes is that sense of connection with the ground, then these could well be the super shoes for you.
However, while the shoe is marketed as a marathon one, I feel they are actually at their best over shorter, faster distances. Because the carbon plating is much more subtle than in some other shoes, you need to work a little harder (or faster) to get that return from them. That makes them a good choice for a 5/10K race, or for your tempo runs. And unlike some of those other carbon shoes, they also feel perfectly fine to plod around in at ‘could run all day’ pace. Plus, as a bonus, I found the carbon plate snap, while subtle, did encourage better running form – enough to stay light on my feet even at super easy pace, while being subtle enough not to feel like you are stressing out different muscles, as is the case in some super shoes.
The outsole of the shoe doesn’t have a rubber coating, which made me initially sceptical about durability, but they show very little wear after 160km across a variety of surfaces (albeit it all pretty dry).
How does the Under Armour Velociti Elite fit?
This is, simply, a really, really comfortable shoe. I can’t think of any other super shoe I’ve ever tried which has quite the immediate ‘oh that’s nice’ pull-on comfort. The TPE sock liner, the lightly padded tongue, the decent but not overboard amount of heel cushioning all add to a plush-feeling fit. The toebox is really quite roomy – so certainly if you did wear this for a marathon your toenails, at least, should remain happy. It fits true to size, and unlike some of the other super shoes, it doesn’t hug your foot too tightly or constructively, so it’s hard to imagine any issues with blisters or chafing either. The fit, if not the construction, feels more like that of your favourite daily trainer.
RW Verdict
Wear after c. 100 miles
The dominance of super shoes on start lines now – and the fact that some runners are now wearing them for training as well as racing – has led to some concerns that the aggressive nature of that spring and bounce could lead to more injuries. And if wearing supershoes has caused you issues in the past, then these could the perfect compromise. There’s nothing here to aggravate delicate calves or a grumpy achilles. You get a lovely, stable ride.
But the trade-off for that is that you don’t get the pep. If you like aggressive shoes, then these aren’t for you. If, however, you prefer your shoes kinder, then there is definitely a place for these in your life.
In fact, these are great shoes for shorter, faster distances, particularly given their stability which means you’d have no issue or concerns with turns or bends at full pelt. I would classify them as what I call ‘holiday shoes’ (when you can only pack one pair for a week away, and have easy, long and interval runs planned), as they are extremely versatile. For this reason, it’s almost a shame these are in the super shoe category because they work so well as a ‘wear for anything/ every day’ shoe. And given their durability, you will undoubtedly get a lot of mileage for your money.
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