Brooks Hyperion Elite 5 Review

The Brooks Hyperion Elite 5 is for you if...

You’re seeking a racing shoe for a variety of distances, from 5k to marathon 

You want a fast, light, and comfortable carbon-plated shoe 

You’re looking for an approachable, friendly super shoe for any experience level 

What is the Brooks Hyperion Elite 5 made for?

For the last five years, the Hyperion Elite has served as Brooks’ pinnacle race-day shoe, combining the propulsive benefits of a carbon plate with protective high cushioning for pounding out marathon distances. The result is a nice balance of performance and comfort, with a slightly more inherently stable design than some of its competitors. This shoe is made for going after your next PR without wrecking your feet to get there — and with an approachable design, you don’t need to wobble on a carved-out geometric midsole for warm-ups, cooldowns, or even to get to the starting line. While this benefits runners of varying experience levels, athletes who chase cutting edge tech have been waiting for the shoe’s performance to ramp up a notch.

Now, the Brooks Hyperion Elite 5 receives a pretty big upgrade that makes the shoe lighter, faster, and bouncier than previous models. It features Brooks’ new PEBA foam compound, DNA Gold, with high energy return to launch you forward with each step. Layered between the foam is a SpeedVault+ carbon plate for that springy pop that has become synonymous with super shoes. At 7.1 oz, the Hyperion Elite 5 has reduced weight from the previous version, but remains on the heavier side of its race-day competitors. With that, the Hyperion Elite maintains its continued purpose of step-in comfort to prevent the foam from bottoming out on you during marathon-length efforts, while satisfying your need for speed with a lightweight ride to fly down the road.

Comfort

For a carbon-plated racing shoe, the Hyperion Elite 5 feels surprisingly comfortable, even on initial step-in. The midsole has the perfect amount of give, and let our feet stay on top of the foam rather than sinking into it. It doesn’t just cushion impact; it rebounds with energy, making each stride feel spring-loaded. The top layer of DNA Gold foam above the carbon plate is just thin enough that it didn’t feel squishy, but offered enough protection to mitigate the rigid feel of the plate.

These shoes did a great job of adapting to different types of footstrikes, whether we were midfoot striking, landing on our toes during hill work, or heel-striking at the bitter end of a race-pace effort. While the Hyperion Elite 5 might lose a razor’s edge against its competitors regarding front-of-pack performance, the balanced comfort and footstrike adaptability kept each phase of our hard efforts as pleasant as possible.

In short, these felt about as comfortable as you could hope for while still being fast. It’s worth noting that the foam and fit are comfortable enough to handle some slower warm up/cool down miles as well—and while other super shoes seem to call for a second pair of shoes for pre/post-race mileage, the Hyperion Elite 5 is happy to be your one shoe to do it all.

Performance

While the Brooks Hyperion Elite 5 is light, fast, and ultra-responsive like a true super shoe, it still manages to feel accessible for different types of running. The updated DNA Gold foam is soft, springy, and propelled us forward with every step, and feels bouncier and more lively than earlier versions of the shoe. The midsole felt delightfully balanced to our taste—there’s a subtle, momentary squish on landing, with a healthy bounce that helped push us forward.

The minimalist upper is lightweight, which was perfect for fast workouts when speed was our top priority. It accelerated well, but felt its best once we were up to speed, ticking off miles on flat surfaces and rolling hills. Plus, the TPU material allowed for great breathability and avoided moisture-based issues.

The foam and plate combination gave plenty of "pop" to each step without feeling overly harsh or aggressive. It encouraged a quick turnover and let us take hard-cut turns with ease, allowing us to feel consistently secure no matter how our feet landed. To top it off, the rubber outsole offers generous coverage and plenty of grip for tackling paved roads.

Many of the newest, shiniest, lightest, jiggliest, class-leading super shoes are going to struggle with instability for tighter corners at hotter paces for short distances, but the Hyperion Elite 5 is pure confidence embodied. We wouldn’t hesitate to slip these on for a 5K or marathon race.

Fit

Reviewers rightfully raved about the upper of the Hyperion Elite 4, and version 5 keeps the party going. Brooks uses a woven TPU upper that, for us, successfully replicated the feeling of a more standard knit upper while minimizing weight. It’s unique in a good way—an open weave for ventilation married with strong and confident security. The combination of the tensile strength of the upper fibers and the lacing system/eyelet design gave our feet a secure lockdown, allowing us to get down to business on the pavement without experiencing any hotspots.

In an attempt to grip our heels while also cutting down on weight, Brooks gave us a line of padding along the heel collar. Some of our testers experienced very mild concern for potential heel slippage, but had zero issues once they hit the road. However, one of our testers found that this arrangement wasn’t substantial enough to achieve a targeted hold of his narrow heel. Adjusting the laces made the issue less prominent, but caused the laces to dig in more through the shoes’ thin tongue. While he never felt in danger of falling out of the shoe, he did note that this pitfall posed a nuisance, especially going up hills. 

For this reason, if you have a narrow heel and/or ankle, you may find the heel shape of the Hyperion Elite 5 to be a bit roomy. With that said, the reliable lockdown in the midfoot and toe box will continue to strap you in place where it matters most. With the overall fit running true to size in length and width, it seems as if it should generally work for most foot types.