Has Kiprun Made a Contender for Best Super Shoe of 2024?

When Kiprun, the running brand from Decathlon, launched their KD900X last year it made headlines for being a £130 carbon plated super shoe. 

It caught our attention too (and Andy made a Youtube video about them), and many of the team thought that it lived up to its label of ‘super’ while also being super affordable, and we liked the snappy stiffness of the shoe compared to some of the softer shoes in the category.

But that stiffness came at a price, because while it performed well in shorter distances like 5k and 10k, not everyone wanted to run longer distances in them. But now Kiprun has a new update of the shoe in the KD900X LD, priced at £160. Here are the stats:

Kiprun KD900X LD
Price: £160 / €180 (not available in the US)
Weight: 208g in UK 8/EU 42 (252g in UK 12/EU 47)
Stack & Drop: 36.8mm / 32.8mm (4mm drop)
Usage: Tempo runs, long runs, race day (from 5K to marathon)

Released in April 2024, the LD is Kiprun’s second super shoe and they’ve listened to the reviews of the first one and brought a shoe more in line with others in the super shoe category, while keeping that low price. They’ve reduced the drop from 8mm to 4mm, made the shoe 10% lighter, and swapped out the stiffer VFoam for their softer VFoam Plus, giving more cushioning for longer runs. 

It’s a shoe that on paper looks to be the perfect super shoe: fast, responsive, lightweight, cushioned, and a price that’s more affordable to more runners. But are looks deceiving? Andy and James have been testing it out for the past few weeks and have some thoughts.

James says: I loved the KD900X. There, I said it. A runner who would usually avoid carbon plated shoes liked this one because the KD900X didn’t feel like the others. That stiff foam and 8mm drop made me feel like I could out-sprint Andy! (A lot of running kit is how it makes you feel, right?!). So I was apprehensive of this new iteration, but as soon as I slipped it on, the long distance runner in me was excited by the LD. 

The VFoam Plus midsole has a great balance of the firmness from the KD900X while adding in the cushioning you are going to need if you want to line up for a marathon. The snappiness I loved from the KD900X has been softened, but I compare it now to something more like the Nike Vaporfly, where before it felt unlike any other super shoe on the market.

Kiprun have slimmed-down the shoe by 10%, and while I didn’t feel that weight loss in my initial short runs, I know that it’s aimed at longer runs and I will be putting some serious mileage in the shoe over the coming weeks, so stay tuned on our socials for that.

With super shoe price tags getting more and more ridiculous (I’m looking at you Adidas!), £160 is a welcome change. While some will argue that it has gone up by £20 and is therefore not as good an offering, you could buy two pairs of these for the price of some of its super shoe competitors. 

The previous version bragged an impressive durability of up to 1,000km, and having seen some of these shoes after 1,500km I was blown away by how the marketing lived up to the hype. With the softer VFoam Plus and exposed elements of the foam in the outer, I don’t think the LD will last quite as long, but that remains to be seen.

I am a plodder by trade and it coped well at my easy pace, but it was when I began to run up through the gears that I really began to enjoy the shoe, where faster paces than I’d normally run at didn’t feel as tough as they usually would, and I finished every run with a smile on my face, not something I can often say. 

Andy says: I really liked the KD900X because it felt like an old-school racing flat in terms of being firm and fast, but it was better suited to a quick 5k or 10k than a longer distance because of that firmness.

The LD looks and feels a lot more premium, the upper is more comfortable and flexible, and now that the finish of the foam isn’t open cell, it feels like a more polished final product.

It’s more stable and versatile than a lot of more expensive shoes. For me, Nike’s Alphafly 3 is incredibly fast, but only at an all-out pace, whereas my preference for a super shoe is one I can run slower in without it feeling wobbly or uncomfortable. This means the LD is more similar to the New Balance SuperComp series, and it’s a shoe that I can run slower than my marathon pace in for a long run, but also run at 5k pace and feel fast.

Have you tried the new Kiprun KD900X LD? Are you interested in a carbon plate super shoe for £160?