Puma Elite athletes rave about the new Fast-R Nitro Elite 3 super shoe after they race in them for 1st time in Boston
By Jonathan GaultToday, the 2025 Boston Marathon weekend kicked off in earnest as the Boston 5K and B.A.A. Mile professional races were held. We have a full race recap here: 2025 Boston 5K/BAA Mile: Casey Comber Repeats in Mile, Taylor Roe’s Strong Season Continues.
One of the hot topics in Boston this weekend is the debut of Puma’s Fast-R Nitro Elite 3 racing shoe, which the company claims is 3.5% more efficient than any other super shoe on the market. Several members of the Puma Elite team raced in the shoes today for the first time, including Taylor Roe, who was 3rd in the women’s 5k in 14:57, Patrick Dever (2nd in the men’s 5k in 13:35) and Amon Kemboi (3rd in the men’s 5k in 13:37), Mick Stanovsek (3rd in the men’s mile in 4:07), and Dorcas Ewoi (1st in the women’s mile in 4:43). I asked them for their thoughts — though obviously they’re a little biased, considering all are paid to promote Puma shoes.
Roe, who said she had only done one or two workouts in the shoes before today, said they definitely felt lighter (the shoes weigh 167 grams; the previous model was 249), but she also liked her previous shoe, the Deviate Nitro Elite.
“We haven’t been training in them for a while,” Roe said. “These are the next step, they’ve done the testing to show it’s more efficient and a faster shoe, but we’ve already had really good shoes. So I’ve just been lucky in that department.”
Dever said he’s been able to use them in training for about six weeks and said he felt the difference when he was tired toward the end of today’s race.
The Puma’s Fast-R Nitro Elite 3.
“I definitely felt like they were giving me a lot of help down that last straight,” Dever said, noting the foam felt softer and more responsive. “I almost felt like my legs were going to give way, but the bounce was keeping my momentum going forward.”
Kemboi felt similarly.
“You kind of feel the bounce only,” Kemboi said. “So even though you are tired, you feel just the drive it gives you when your legs are tired.”
Though the greatest gains figure to come in the marathon, even Puma’s milers used the shoe today. Stanovsek told us that previously Puma would have its pros test out both the Deviate and the Fast-R to see which one was more efficient. But for this new release, they’ve told athletes to just use the Fast-R because they believe it is that much better.
“It’s flying,” said Ewoi. “It’s super fast, super bouncy, light. It feels different from previous
Of course, feeling bouncy and saving your legs at the end of races are the same boosts that basically every supershoe has been providing since the technology was introduced almost a decade ago. We’ll need a lot more data to see whether the Fast-R Nitro Elite 3 is a true game-changer.
Watch out post-race interviews from Boston below. Talk about the new Puma shoes and Taylor Roe’s 14:57 5000 on our world famous messageboard / fan forum at letsrun.com/forum.
- Nike/adidas slayer: Puma Super shoe 3.5% better economy than Alphafly etc.
- Taylor Roe 14:57 3rd at BAA 5K
Race Recap: 2025 Boston 5K/BAA Mile: Casey Comber Repeats in Mile, Taylor Roe’s Strong Season Continues.
