New Brooks Marathon Shoe Hyperion Elite Adds Carbon Fiber, New Midsole Material – Forbes

Elite marathon runners racing in Brooks kept the feedback coming for the company. That feedback added up to a completely new approach to distance-racing footwear with the upcoming Feb. 27 release of the Hyperion Elite and Hyperion Tempo, a pair of silhouettes that offer runners a carbon-fiber marathon racing shoe and a marathon training shoe, both with new midsole technologies to improve the Brooks running line. 

Nikhil Jain, senior manager of Blue Line products at Brooks, says this update started all the way back in mid-2017 and aims to create a new racing platform that provided more support and energy return to runners, especially in the latter portions of a marathon. By working with Des Linden, Shadrack Biwott and the Hansons-Brooks Original Distance Project, company designers collaborated with some of the world’s top runners to create a product driven by technology, both in the midsole and in the upper. 

It has shown results already, with Linden winning the 2018 Boston Marathon in a prototype and Biwott finishing third in the same race. 

With the Hyperion Elite, built specifically for the immediate lead up to a marathon and race day, Brooks created a shoe less than 7 ounces in weight, but with additional support and energy return than previously available. To start, Brooks devised a new DNA Zero midsole, an EVA compound with additional air in the mix to boost the heel height from 20mm to 28mm while coming in 25 percent lighter than its predecessor foam. To provide more “pop for the runner” with additional propulsive toe-off, Jain says they dipped back into the archives and combined that knowledge with technology from the brand’s current spike line to introduce a carbon fiber plate into this extremely lightweight racer, sandwiched between the midsole compound, to provide energy return but also work as a supportive stabilizer through the end of the race. 

The propulsion plate pairs with the shoe’s spine construction that speeds the transition from heel to forefoot in each step while providing a toe-off propulsion effect. With carbon fiber a growing trend in racing, Jain says he knows it isn’t for everyone, but does provide a lot of benefit. “If the shoe can work with the runner and give back the energy that the runner themselves are actually exerting,” he says, “it is a win-win for us.” Carbon fiber does just that. 

With a recent World Athletics ruling opening up the possibility of additional “stack heights” and carbon fiber uses in racing shoes, Brooks is already prototyping its Hyperion 2.0 and may make those available to Olympic hopefuls as well. 

The shoe’s new last creates more room in the forefoot, allowing for greater toe splay. To continue to provide support in the higher form, the midfoot and heel also went wider, which research says provides a more supportive ride, Jain says. Throughout the testing process, Linden even asked for more width in the midfoot after running with a prototype in Boston. Jain says the brand feels the changes to the technologies and geometries have created a shoe more supportive than the competition, especially in the later stages of a marathon. 

The fresh upper design includes a mechanical stretch woven material, both lightweight and supportive.

Brooks knows that runners need something different to train in, to pound out mile after mile, so while the Elite is designed to last 50 to 100 miles, the Tempo was created as an everyday training shoe that will last 250 to 400 miles. While it doesn’t have the carbon fiber plate or the DNA Zero, the Tempo still has its own set of technologies. 

“The Hyperion Tempo was born while working on the Hyperion Elite,” Jain says. “A (carbon fiber) plate is great for race day to execute and race your fastest, but from a training perspective, Des needed to grind out the miles and get stronger, so having a plate for training didn’t work for her. She kept talking about how she loved the Elite shoe for race day, but still needed a lightweight and cushioned shoe with crazy responsiveness.” Basically, she wanted the best of all worlds in a midsole. So, Brooks built the Tempo, with its own new midsole technology. 

The new DNA Flash infused nitrogen into the base of Brooks’ proprietary foam. Using a supercritical fluid foaming process that applies pressure and heat to liquid nitrogen until it starts to transform into a gas, the same process that extracts caffeine from coffee, as the nitrogen transforms, millions of microscopic bubbles form, providing a closed-cell structure that naturally returns energy without adding extra weight. The elements of softness and lightweight remain, but with improved resilience and responsiveness. 

The Tempo carries over much of the same design as the Elite, with the same geometries and wider midfoot.

Brooks plans to roll out the new Hyperion Elite in full force during the Olympic Marathon Trials in Atlanta on Feb. 29, making the shoes available to consumers on the brand’s website and in select retailers in Atlanta, Seattle and Michigan, home to the Hanson team, just two days before. Expect a wider distribution come June. 

Additional Brooks Technology

While Brooks was busy working on new marathon racing shoes, the company partnered with the University of Portsmouth Research Group in Breast Health to study the biomechanics of breast tissue movement. That study informed Brooks’ effort in creating an entirely new line of sports bras. The Dare Run Bra, which comes in six different styles, not only aims to improve comfort, but also performance. 

With uncontrolled breast movement resulting in stride reduction in every step, Brooks says the wrong sports bra can equal the loss of a mile in stride length over the course of a single marathon. In January, Brooks launched the new Dare Run Bra collection — tested by over 1,000 female athletes — and designed specifically for the needs of runners.