Rating the Most Popular Marathon Race Shoes on Comfort, Speed, Durability, Traction, Bounce, Weight, Fun Factor and Value - Part 3
Here we will break down the comfort, speed, stability, durability, traction, bounce, weight, fun factor, and overall value of the most popular marathon race shoes currently on the market—the New Balance SC Elite v5, Puma Deviate Nitro Elite 3, Hoke Cielo X1 2.0, and the Mizuno Wave Rebellion Pro 3.
Welcome back to Choose Your Player. In this series, we’re giving running shoes an overall score based on 10 key categories—ranging from pure speed to all-day comfort—each rated from 1 to 100. This time, we’re taking a closer look at the stats on some of the newest members of Carbon County, including the New Balance SC Elite v5, Puma Deviate Nitro Elite 3, Hoke Cielo X1 2.0, and the Mizuno Wave Rebellion Pro 3.
New Balance SC Elite v5 - Overall Score of 87
New Balance’s pinnacle race shoe is back with some major updates. In the chase for lightweight, they narrowed the midfoot, lightened the outsole, and revamped the upper—making it a true race-ready option while keeping comfort in mind. Lacing it up feels like a big departure from the last generation too. The previous version had a wide, floaty fit, but this feels much more narrow—almost like a Nike. Wide foot fam might find the standard width tight, but there’s still that soft PEBA comfort with a nice balance between squish and aggressive race geometry. The SC Elite v5 is great for daily runs, long run, and mixed pace workouts. There is no breakdown, no mush, no weirdness—just that smooth blend of comfort and versatility that makes a super shoe actually usable every day. It is also very durable with no gimmicks, making it very accessible to a wide variety of runners due to the stability and comfort it provides. The design is also so clean in this colorway – white, black, and red with no unnecessary accents.
New Balance SC Elite v5
Puma Deviate Nitro Elite 3 - Overall Score of 88
The Puma Deviate Nitro Elite 3 keeps landing in the top spot of our monthly lists of 5 best marathon race shoes. It’s durable, versatile, has that perfect not-too-soft Goldilocks foam, and grips like crazy with PumaGrip. There are no gimmicks, and it feels very stable at all paces and across a variety of foot strikes. Plus at $230, it undercuts most racers without sacrificing performance.
Puma Deviate Nitro Elite 3
Hoka Cielo X1 2.0 - Overall Score of 79
The Cielo X1 2.0 has a wild, unstable geometry built for pushing the pace, but its foam feels tuned for steady, comfortable miles. If Hoka put the foam of the Rocket X3 in the Cielo, they’d have a serious demon-time shoe on their hands. As it stands, the Cielo is caught in a no-man’s land between comfort and speed, falling short of top-tier in either category.
Hoka Cielo X1 2.0
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Mizuno Wave Rebellion Pro 3 - Overall Score of 83
The Mizuno Wave Rebellion Pro 3 seemed gimmicky at first with its ridiculously tall stack of foam and aggressive heel cut-out. It’s not like any other race shoe on the market. Despite its odd appearance, it actually has a really cushioned feel, and although the heel cut-out looks aggressive, it is very flat in the mid-foot, so it's not actually as aggressive as shoes like the Puma Fast-R 3. The foam is not too soft—it is very responsive and bouncy. The distracting quality is the heel, which does require that you land on the midfoot to forefoot, so sometimes it doesn’t feel as great when you get tired or at more relaxed paces. Much to our surprise, it turned out to be a serious performance race shoe. If you are a powerful runner or a heavier runner, you will love the responsive bounce and protection you get from the Wave Rebellion Pro 3.
Mizuno Wave Rebellion Pro 3 Beta
Check out our Choose Your Player Marathon Racing Shoes - Part 1, Choose Your Player Marathon Racing Shoes - Part 2, Choose Your Player Max Cushion Shoes, Choose Your Player Long Run Shoes or Choose Your Player Speed Training Shoes editions if you've enjoyed this format.
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