Track & Field Guides
Best Jump Spikes of 2026
What Are Super Spikes?
By Michael
Last Updated December 26, 2025
• 6 min read
Welcome, sports fans, to the super spike era.
From marathon fields to the straightaways of our tracks, elite foams, plates, and research have pushed our competitions to new heights. As our athletes have gotten faster, so have our shoes. As our shoes have gotten faster, so have our athletes. It's a beautiful cycle.
But if you've been watching professional racing on TV (or in person) and are still trying to wrap your head around the sport's latest footwear innovations, and what exactly constitutes a super spike, then you've come to the right place. Here at Running Warehouse, we spend all day, every day tracking the latest in these trends so that we can introduce you to the future.
What Is A Super Spike?
Racing spikes have been a staple of competitive racing for literally a century now. The combination of minimalist shoe designs and jagged, earth-gripping outsole pins has objectively boosted human capabilities across any race course. In modern times, innovations to upper materials, outsole compositions, and even for the namesake spikes themselves, we've been fine-tuning the same premise for years.
So, what puts the "super" into a super spike, you may ask? The answer to that secret lies within the midsole.
Super spikes are intricately designed, rigid-plated, super-foamed racing shoes which have become the standard for speed over the last few years. You have undoubtedly seen them on the feet of your favorite professional runners, dominating racing fields and dazzling atop podiums. They are highly aggressive with incredible efficiency and responsiveness derived from rigid plates and next-generation foam advancements.
How Do Super Spikes Work?
Super spikes are built with significantly more foam underfoot compared to spike designs of the past. These innovative, supercritical compounds are amazingly resilient and hyper-propulsive, offering unrivaled levels of protection while remaining as lightweight, responsive, and efficient as possible. Additionally, having this extreme cushioning-to-weight ratio helps reduce and slow the onset of fatigue, allowing runners to feel fresher longer, and ready to charge down the final stretches of any race.
The energy-saving advantages of supercritical foams are further enhanced by the innovation of stiff plate designs, which can vary slightly depending on the type of spike and the distance you're competing in. Since the beginning of the super spike era, carbon-fiber and PEBAX plates have proven themselves to be some of the fastest and most efficient, providing taut, propulsive platforms to help runners stay hyper-efficient from stride to stride.
The spike plate experiment extends to experiments with the arrangements of plates' positioning under-foot. Some shoe brands have opted to use one continuous spike plate, providing both pin positioning and underfoot rebound in one stiff package. Others are experimenting with a dual plate system- with one plate focused on supporting the midfoot, and another focused on housing the pins. Still others are trying to balance three spike plates- interlocking for flexibility and fine-tuned, targeted enhancements across different footstrikes.
Which foam and plate combinations are ideal for which events has yet to be proven, but the various brands' efforts are fun to track, and the overall results speaking for themselves across world stages. Just watch as those records keep falling faster, and faster, and faster...
Super Spikes for Each Event
Long Distance Super Spikes
Long Distance (LD) super spikes are designed for efficiency across endurance races and are specifically engineered to meet the demands of the 3000m, steeplechase, 3200, Two-mile, 5000m, and 10000m track events.
These spikes typically feature shorter, less aggressive, more flexible plate designs with higher stack heights of foam in the midsole. This offers a more comfortable underfoot experience yet maintains the responsiveness and efficiency needed to go after long-distance event PRs. LD spikes usually only feature four spike pins in the forefoot, to provide traction and stability for curves without wasting weight on any more pins than are necessary. Above all, LD spikes try to stay featherlight with minimal, comfortably secure uppers.
Mid-Distance Super Spikes
Middle Distance (MD) super spikes are best suited for the 800m, 1500m, 1600m, and Mile track events. They typically feature slightly lower stack heights than their long-distance counterparts. With more aggressive plate designs that keep runners on their forefoot, these mid-distance spikes create propulsive rides and encourage faster top speeds the LD spikes. Yet MD super spikes still provide a healthy amount of supercritical foam underfoot, unlike Sprint Spikes, in order to keep athletes protected through multiple laps
In terms of pins, MD super spikes feature anywhere from 6-8 spikes underfoot, delivering more traction to support cornering at faster paces than the 4-pinned LD spikes. Once again, the impressively powerful midsole is highlighted by a lightweight upper that keeps feet securely locked across the midsole, encouraging efficiency with a dose of comfort.
Sprints Super Spikes
If you are a runner looking for the fastest, most aggressive spikes for the 100m, 200m, 400m, and hurdle events, you will want to find a sprint (SD) super spike. These spikes are designed with the most rigid, full-length plate constructions. These plates are angled to keep runners weights on their forefoot, minimizing ground contact time by promoting the most aggressive and efficient positioning possible. With sprint spikes, endurance and protection is less of a priority in favor of pure, unrestrained, speed.
Because acceleration and efficiency are key in this category, SD spike uppers are incredibly minimal and offer a snug, glove-like fits. They offer highly streamlined designs and tight wraps to negate any extra movement in the shoe. Sprint spikes also feature the most pins, typically with eight or more underfoot, and they offer superior traction compared to long and middle-distance super spikes. There is little doubt that you will hit your personal best times and top speeds when wearing a sprint super spike.
Cross Country Super Spikes
Cross-country (XC) spikes are similar to their long-distance counterparts, usually featuring higher stacks of foam in the midsole to provide the protection athletes need to conquer longer-distance races comfortably. These spikes tend to be a little more forgiving underfoot, providing more flexible plate designs that keep things efficient without losing a natural feel.
Due to uneven cross-country course terrain, XC spikes are designed with more ankle support so that runners can remain secure and stable when weaving through the course. Additionally, these specialized spikes offer longer spike pins when compared to typical track spikes, promoting incredible grip that will enable runners to keep their pace on natural surfaces, even in wet, muddy conditions.
Heading To The Line
If you're a newer runner, then super spikes might not quite be for you...yet. Beginner spikes offer extra cushioning, more familiar geometries, and more accessible fits that can help ease you into the world of competitive track and field at a more comfortable pace.
But if you've been in the game for a while, and want to experience the cutting edge of elite gear and tech, then super spikes represent a whole new tier of competitive advantage that brands have unlocked. If you're looking for that extra pop to sharpen your race day performances, these spikes are ready to push the pace and fly down those straightaways right along with you.
We hope your training goes well, that your race day prep goes off without a hitch, and that your next PRs are just one bell lap away. Now go get 'em!
