Adizero Distancestar 1 vs Air Zoom Victory 2

The Adizero Distancestar is a track distance spike built to cover everything from the 1500m up to the 10,000m, which makes it one of the more versatile racing spikes you can buy. It sits below the specialist end of the Adizero range, so if you want a single spike for a whole season of track efforts rather than one event, this is the honest pick. A glassfibre plate underfoot gives you a firm, snappy platform without the aggressive geometry of a pure middle distance spike, so it stays comfortable across longer reps. At £90 it is one of the more accessible spikes on the market, which matters if you are a club runner buying your own kit. If you want something sharper for pure 1500m to 3000m work, the Adizero Avanti is the more aggressive sibling. For most distance track athletes, though, the Distancestar does the lot.

The Nike Air Zoom Victory 2 is a middle-distance track spike built for one job: turning a fast 800m to 5000m into a faster one. This is Nike's plated distance racer, and it sits at the sharp end of the market at £200. A full-length carbon Flyplate runs under a forefoot Air Zoom unit, so instead of the dead, bare feel of an old-school spike you get a real pop off the plate and a hint of bounce as you load the front of the foot. At 135g it is featherlight, and the 19.9mm heel and 19.3mm forefoot stack keep you low and connected to the track. In our view this is a racing tool, not a session shoe. If you run anything from the 1500m to the 5000m and want the most return per stride at the line, the Victory 2 belongs on your shortlist. For pure distance reps the lighter, plate-free Nike Dragonfly 2 is the calmer option.