Back in March, Canada's fastest female marathoner, Malindi Elmore, wanted to know if any shoe could deliver the results that the Nike Vaporfly Next% was producing for runners around the world. Nike's controversial new design included a carbon plate and super light foam that was helping runners lop minutes off their marathon times, including Eliud Kipchoge's marathon world record. But Elmore had no allegiance to the Swoosh, and as a free agent she wanted to know if other brands could actually compete.

Elmore had just set Canadian national record of 2:24 in the Vaporfly, but wasn't sponsored by Nike (and was actually buying the shoes herself in order to gain the benefit they provided). As COVID was shutting down the world around her, she quietly took her Nikes into a lab along with a new carbon plated competitor by Saucony, called the Endrophin Pro, in order to see if any other shoe could match the Vaporfly. The results will no doubt change many minds about which shoes to wear for that first post-pandemic breakthrough marathon.

Host Michael Doyle talks with Elmore about her curious experiment.