The Swoosh has been ubiquitous in the running game since the 70’s when they broke onto the scene. Nike pride themselves on innovation, from being upstarts spoiling the party for older brands, to becoming (perhaps) the largest name in sports, to sparking the super-shoe revolution with the Next% and Vaporfly.

Go to a race and you cannot miss the hordes of Nike-wearing runners in some kind of -fly, be that Vapor, Alpha, Zoom, or Dragon if you’re on the track. It used to be a similar story for training runs, where Nike’s Pegasus and Vomero dominated the game. But the last few years have been a little quiet for their daily-running lineup. Things had gotten a little tired, it seemed. The People wanted excitement!

Enter the Nike Vomero 18.

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Boxes of the Vomero 18 started landing at The Shoe Room just over a week ago. The rumour mill had been spinning for a while and we’d heard whispers that they aren’t just another shoe, so boxes were promptly popped open to see first-hand. 

First things first, these are fresh. It’s like the Vomero 17 went away, decided to get a personal stylist, invest in a good hairdresser and focus on themselves to come back a totally new version of itself. There are hints of the en-vogue street-style Vomero 5 which has been incredibly popular. Sleek and minimalist, yet with hints of flair from the chunky contoured midsole.

Speaking of transformations, the Vomero 18 has come back beefed up, adding 6mm of cushioning underfoot. Someone’s been hitting the gym. Now clocking in with 46mm through the heel and 36mm in the forefoot, Nike finally have gotten into the maximal-shoe trend that they’ve lagged behind on. Oh and it’s PLUSH. The combination of ZoomX and ReactX foams makes for a noticeably soft step-in, something which was missing from the likes of the Pegasus’ latest iterations. In-fact, Nike claim it’s 18% softer than older Vomero models.

That 10mm offset lends a nice roll to the shoe when combined with the softened foam underfoot, eliminating that slappy feeling that comes with some high-drop trainers (*cough* Pegasus *cough). 

“Oh but Nike are too narrow for me”, yep we hear ya. It’s been a bit of a common finding with some of their lineup, but the Vomero, despite it’s looks, feels much more accommodating through the toe. A wider toe-box is welcome, and the padded tongue and heel counter are forgiving enough to provide a fit that works for more runners.

Shedding pounds (as in, Pounds Sterling £) is clearly a New Year’s Resolution for the Vomero, too. Clocking in at £134.99 RRP, they have dropped £10 from the 17s. More shoe for less cash is a nice surprise, as the industry only seems to be making trainers more expensive with each new edition.

Here are some of the team’s first impressions of the Nike Vomero 18:

Anthony: First impressions seem decent. I was a bit skeptical to be honest. That rock forward is strong onto my big toe, but let me put 50km into these and I’ll get back to you!

Liam: To set the record straight, I’m a big fan of the Nike Racing shoes with the Vaporfly and Dragonfly being my pick for any competition. But their Everyday options haven’t ever really been inspiring to me. But. Initial take-aways from the Vomero 18 are pretty good. So much so that I raised an eyebrow to Scott and Anthony when I put them on. The combo foam feels like it offers a good degree of both softness and responsiveness, but I will say I’m still not sure about a 10mm drop. That shows more of my preference for <8mm shoes, but still, I think it might be suited to a less ‘toey’ roll for daily miles. Still, it’s the most excited I’ve been about a Nike shoe in a while. Are they back in the game??

Scott: To me, the dual density foam feels like it offers more in the comfort/stability department than performance/speed, whereas the Vomero 17 is more the latter. But it does still offer some versatility through the gears. It feels like it’d be perfect as a slow long run shoe, definitely a leg protector without the plate, so lots of honest training benefit to be had here!

⁠The roomy toe box is nice (sometimes we find Nike to skew towards narrow fits) and it feels moderate in stack height and pitch (a.k.a. Drop; a.k.a. Offset). ⁠Aesthetic for Hyrox heads. (Ed. note: I don’t know what Scott means by ‘Hyrox Heads’, but also, kind of makes sense)

Jonty: Oh these are soft! Just standing here in them it is noticeably soft through the heel, which I’d expect to feel nice for the rear-foot strikers of the world. For me maybe a little too much offset to be standing around in rather than running but the Vomero is such a refresh from Nike.

Great for:

A soft and stable Neutral trainer for daily miles. Max cushion, high drop.

£134.99

Available in: Summit White/Coconut Milk/Black(Men's and Women's); Summit White/Elemental Pink/Red Plum/Black (Women's Sizing Only)

Weight: 325g*

Drop: 10mm

Support: Neutral

Available in-store and online at runlimited.co/

*Weight based on a UK size 9.