Running apparel is expensive. Sure, most of the time you are paying for quality with those investments, but companies like Decathlon have always been cool because they offered a way to spend less without necessarily sacrificing quality. Their gear has often punched well above its price point.
KIPRUN is Decathlon’s performance running brand, and while it has been around internationally for a while, it is officially making its U.S. debut today. With that launch comes three shoes covering three very different parts of the running world: the KIPRIDE MAX for daily training, the KIPSUMMIT MAX for the trails, and the KIPSTORM ELITE, our review shoe, built for race day.
And before we get into the shoe, there is a fun little bit of history behind the KIPRUN name. The brand traces its inspiration back to the 2007 New York City Marathon, where the crowd’s “Keep Running!” chants resonated with Decathlon. KIPRUN was born from that idea: keep everyone running.
So now the question is: Can KIPRUN keep you running fast?
Looks:
This is one of the more unique colorways I’ve run in. It isn’t overly bold, but I don’t think I’ve seen many shoes pull off this particular vanilla and smoked-black combination. It’s somewhere between creamy beige, yellow and gold, and honestly, I kind of like it.
The visuals go beyond the colors, too. The shoe itself features a lot of angled design elements that gives the shoe a fast, almost aerodynamic look. The elf-like pull tab on the heel and the pointy rear of the midsole add to that futuristic, slightly industrial aesthetic.
One of my favorite little details is that nearly all of the eyelet holes are covered by the upper, with the exception of the top two. It gives the shoe a really clean, dialed-in appearance and makes it look like KIPRUN put a lot of thought into the details.
Construction & Fit:
There is no mistaking what this shoe is designed to do. The KIPSTORM ELITE is a carbon-plated race shoe with a dual-foam setup called Fastech+, combining PEBA and A-TPU.
The 7.6-ounce weight is light, but it isn’t going to win any weight contests against some of the other race-day shoes we’ve tested. We’ve got a few sitting around the office that dip into the 5- and 6-ounce range. That doesn’t make the KIPSTORM ELITE heavy by any stretch, but it is something to consider when you’re looking at the shoe purely through a racing lens.
One thing I really appreciated was the platform. While the heel is fairly narrow, the midsole and forefoot feel a little wider than some other race-day shoes. That gave me a greater sense of lateral stability, particularly when cornering or when my stride started to fall apart late in a run.
Upper:
I’ve had a bit of a love-hate relationship with knit uppers over the years. I love the look and often love the fit, but depending on the shoe, they can sometimes create issues with lockdown or breathability.
I think the KIPSTORM ELITE lands somewhere in the middle.
It probably isn’t the most breathable race shoe I’ve worn, but I’m also not convinced breathability is quite as important as we sometimes make it out to be, particularly here in the Pacific Northwest. Most shoes can handle Oregon conditions just fine, and unless you’re looking for absolute efficiency in every single category, I don’t think the upper’s breathability is a dealbreaker.
The more interesting part of the upper is what KIPRUN did with the tongue. There isn’t really a traditional tongue. Instead, the knit upper acts more like a bootie or sock. Rather than being gusseted underneath the laces like many modern race shoes, it connects toward the back of the upper near the heel. It’s a pretty unique concept, and I agree with KIPRUN’s reasoning that it helps reduce lace pressure.
Going into the review, I was actually worried about lace bite because the “tongue” area is so thin. But that concern never really materialized. The shoe held my foot well enough that I didn’t need to crank down on the laces. The downside was that I did experience some slight heel slippage.
The heel isn’t overly padded, which isn’t necessarily a surprise in a racing shoe, but I never felt like I could completely dial in the lockdown for my particular foot shape. The lack of traditional lacing adjustment made that a little more challenging.
Thankfully, it never turned into blisters or any major discomfort. It was more of an occasional reminder that the fit wasn’t quite as locked in as I’d prefer.
Midsole:
With a new shoe from a company entering the U.S. racing market, one of the things I’m most interested in is how the ride compares with the established players. Based on the industrial visuals of the KIPSTORM ELITE and the mildly tapered toe box, I initially expected this shoe to be on the firmer side.
However, I found the ride landing more in the middle, offering a surprisingly nice balance between cushioning and responsiveness. It is definitely a stiffer shoe than some of the other racers I’ve tested, and when compared directly with a few of the shoes currently in our rotation, it isn’t quite as immediately responsive. But those are relative differences, not massive shortcomings.
The KIPSTORM ELITE has a really enjoyable ride. There is enough cushioning to keep things comfortable without feeling mushy, while the carbon plate and foam combination give the shoe enough stiffness to keep it feeling like a race-day shoe. Overall, this was a ride I found myself enjoying considerably more than I expected.
Outsole:
Race-day outsoles have a pretty simple job in my mind – give me enough rubber to trust the shoe when I’m cornering or dealing with questionable conditions, but don’t cover the entire bottom of the shoe with unnecessary weight.
I’ve found the outsole to be surprisingly grippy, especially for a race-day shoe. I tested these during the summer, so I haven’t had the opportunity to put them through a classic wet Oregon race yet, but based on what I’ve experienced, I’d feel pretty comfortable taking these out when the roads get slick.
Overall:
When we started this review, we talked about Decathlon’s reputation for making affordable gear that performs well above its price point.The KIPSTORM ELITE doesn’t really fit that mold.
At $255, this isn’t a budget race shoe. In fact, KIPRUN is jumping directly into the deep end of the premium racing market, where there is no shortage of established players with years of experience making carbon-plated speed machines.
The KIPSTORM ELITE isn’t necessarily the lightest, most aggressive or most responsive race shoe I’ve tested. But it offers a really nice combination of stability, cushioning, grip and speed, and the ride ended up being considerably more enjoyable than I expected. For a brand making its U.S. debut, that’s a pretty good first impression.
Decathlon may have built its reputation around making running gear accessible, but with KIPRUN, it is making it pretty clear that it wants to play with the big boys. The KIPSTORM ELITE isn’t cheap, but it might just be worth the price of admission.
