In an August release window dominated by plates, Diadora has gone the other way. The Italian brand's new Corsa, unveiled on 13 August, is a deliberately simple proposition: a single lightweight daily trainer, with no plate of any kind, that is meant to handle everything from recovery jogs to tempo sessions. At 230 grams in a men's standard size with an 8mm drop, it is one of the lightest unplated trainers on the market this year.
The midsole is where Diadora is staking its claim. The Corsa runs on Anima N2, a nitrogen-infused supercritical foam that the brand says is around 40 per cent more responsive and 40 per cent lighter than the standard EVA compounds it replaces. It is the same family of technology that has spread through the super-trainer category, but deployed here without a plate to stiffen the ride, a choice that keeps the shoe flexible and, at $150, meaningfully cheaper than the plated alternatives crowding shop walls this month.
Fit has been reworked as well. The Corsa is built on a new, wider last with a roomier toe box and a broad platform underfoot, addressing a long-standing criticism of Diadora's performance line for narrower-footed markets outside Italy. A nylon air mesh upper handles lockdown, while a Duratech 2500 rubber compound covers the high-wear zones of the outsole, a nod to the shoe's intended role as a high-mileage workhorse rather than a race-day special.
The styling will do the shoe no harm either. Where most modern trainers chase aggressive silhouettes, the Corsa leans into Diadora's heritage with a clean, retro-coded look that has already drawn attention from the fashion press as much as the running one. It is a reminder that the brand, best known in running for its handmade Italian racing flats, is increasingly comfortable playing both sides of the performance-lifestyle divide.
The Corsa lands in a fiercely contested space. August alone has brought Topo's first carbon racer, the Specter Elite, and New Balance's plated SuperComp Rebel super trainer, while every major brand now fields a nitrogen- or PEBA-foamed daily shoe. Diadora's wager is that a large group of runners neither wants nor needs a plate for daily training, and that a light, lively, durable shoe at a sane price will find them. It is an old-fashioned idea, and in 2026 that may be exactly the point.