The Dragonfly doesn’t have a carbon fiber plate but the full length Pebax design still helps create that added rigidity and stability needed to run at peak efficiency. That ZoomX foam is going to work with a full-length Pebax plate for an effortless, propulsive feel. This shouldn’t have any impact on weight and performance but it was added in to help the shoe hold up a little longer mile after mile on the track. So the dragonfly takes the same ZoomX cushioning but slims it down and it’s really what helps keep this shoe in that 4oz range, which is nearly the same weight at the previous Matumbo but with all the extra benefit of added cushioning.Īlong with ZoomX and a plate, there's also a small sliver of CMP compression foam underneath the heel to increase durability. The Vaporfly is very efficient but it was just a little too much shoe, especially when you’re trying to close out a really fast bell lap. ZoomX was the big story with the Vaporfly but athletes needed a shoe that had more connection to the track.
In the midsole, the shoe utilizes full length ZoomX cushioning for an ultra lightweight design with unreal energy return. That design philosophy changes with the Dragonfly. The Matumbo has been the go to distance spike for years and while it had more cushioning than the original victory, it was still pretty minimal. The Dragonfly is an ultra lightweight and responsive distance spike and it’ll be unofficially taking over for the Matumbo as a spike that will excel in anything from the mile to 10k. Now fast forward to 2020 and along with some extra inspiration from the Alphafly, the Nike dragonfly was born. But the Mamba was the shoe that started to push the limits of what Nike could do with a track spike. Even with these new offerings, there will still be athletes that will still use it in competition, especially in the steeplechase, because it light, breathable and has that traditional low to the ground design. The last distance spike Nike released was the Mamba V and upon release it instantly became a hit from high school to elite competition. Nike has taken their learnings with their ultra lightweight ZoomX cushioning and embedded plates and has created two unique offerings that will help create huge performance and efficiency benefits from anything from 800 -10000m. But over the years, we have yet to see anything that really is ground breaking and we haven’t seen anything nearly as disruptive as what we saw on the road running scene with the Vaporfly or Alphafly, but that all changes now in 2020. Shoes like the Jasari, the Miler, the Victory, and the Matumbo, were all ahead of their time and created ultra lightweight performance on the track. Over the last 15-20 years there has been small innovations in track spike technology and we’ve seen some truly amazing designs that were built with 1 goal, to run fast. Nike has always been on the leading edge of technology in the track spike world and now with the new Zoom Victory and Dragonfly, Nike has yet again stepped up their game.
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