Saucony's Endorphin Elite 2 has been on review benches on both sides of the Atlantic for close to a month now, and a consensus has emerged that the second-generation carbon-plated racer is the most distinctive ride in the 2026 super-shoe class. Priced at £270 in the UK and $275 in the US, the shoe pairs a full-length S-shaped carbon plate with a new PEBA-based midsole the brand has trademarked as IncrediRUN — a noticeably softer, denser foam than the PWRRUN HG the original Elite shipped with in 2024. Independent lab testing by RunRepeat recorded heel and forefoot energy return of 80.6 and 82.1 per cent respectively, the highest the site has measured in its database of more than 400 pairs.
The headline experience is the foam underfoot. Reviewers have reached for comparisons with marshmallow, Jell-O and, repeatedly, the feeling of walking on memory foam before the cell structure wakes up on the first few strides of a tempo. Believe in the Run's testers described the Elite 2 as feeling "wildly energetic and explosive" once pace is applied, and Marathon Handbook's testers clocked their marathon race pace splits one to two seconds per kilometre faster than on the original Elite over identical loops. That propulsion is traceable to the geometry: Saucony has thickened the stack to 39.5mm in the heel and raised the toe-spring curve slightly, effectively lengthening the "tip" phase that the brand's SpeedRoll philosophy has always relied on.
What the Elite 2 does not provide is a margin for error. The S-curve plate is thinner and more flexible than the stiffer blade in models like the Adidas Adio Pro 4, and the softer midsole sits on a comparatively narrow platform in the forefoot. Several reviewers — RunRepeat, Trail and Kale and Running Shoes Guru among them — warned that heel strikers with wide feet or a midfoot overpronation tendency are likely to find the Elite 2 wobbly in the final third of a marathon. Believe in the Run's lead tester flagged a tapered toebox that pinched after about 60 minutes in his medium-width sample, a problem he did not experience in the Elite or the Endorphin Pro 5.
Against its direct rivals the picture is nuanced. The Adidas Adizero Adios Pro 4, reviewed last month, remains the more forgiving shoe for the average club runner and the one most recommended for debut marathoners. The Nike Alphafly 3 is still the preferred choice for forefoot strikers targeting a specific time. The Asics Metaspeed Sky Tokyo worn by John Korir to a course record at the Boston Marathon on Monday is arguably the platform that has won the most major-city podiums in the past 18 months. Where the Endorphin Elite 2 wins, in almost every head-to-head review, is on the subjective feel of running fast — a ride testers describe as fun first and efficient second, the rare super-shoe that reviewers say they want to keep wearing after the race is over.
Durability data is still early. Saucony's internal testing cites a projected lifespan of 350 to 400 kilometres before meaningful energy-return drop-off, broadly consistent with the PEBA category, although the softer IncrediRUN compound shows visible toe-off wear earlier than the original Elite in the 200km mark. The shoe is widely available in the UK and US as of the Boston weekend, and Saucony has already confirmed that American Conner Mantz, Australian Patrick Tiernan and Britain's Calli Hauger-Thackery will race the London Marathon on Sunday in the Elite 2. The real test, as ever, begins when the elite women start on The Mall.