Fast-R Nitro Elite 3 vs Endorphin Elite 2

The Fast-R Nitro Elite 3 is PUMA at its most single-minded: a carbon marathon racer built to hold hard pace and give a lot back when you push. At a claimed 170g it is genuinely light for a full-stack road racing shoe, and the split-forefoot geometry that defines the Fast-R line is back, so the ride feels aggressive and unashamedly race-only. This is a running shoe with one job, and it does it well. It sits at the sharp end of the super-shoe market on price at £260, right alongside the Nike Alphafly 3 and the adidas Adizero Adios Pro 4. If you want a carbon racing shoe purely for marathons, halves and fast tempo work, and you run best off a snappy propulsive platform rather than a soft rocker, it earns its place in the rotation. Just know what you are buying: this is a race-day tool, not a do-everything trainer.

The Endorphin Elite 2 is Saucony's no-compromise carbon racing shoe, built for one job: chasing a personal best on race day. At 199g with a 39mm heel stack and a full-length carbon plate, it sits right at the top of the marathon shoe class alongside the Nike and adidas super-shoes. The star is the IncrediRUN foam, a soft, aggressively bouncy midsole that stores and returns energy when you load it at pace. This is not a do-everything running shoe. It feels twitchy and over-eager at easy jog pace, and the 6mm drop plus stiff plate ask for a confident forefoot or midfoot landing. Hold half-marathon to marathon effort and it comes alive. If you want the same Endorphin DNA for less money and more daily versatility, the Endorphin Pro 5 is the calmer, cheaper sibling. But for pure race-day return, the Elite 2 is one of the most propulsive carbon marathon shoes we have run in.