There is a lot of substance in these Topo Athletic Ultrafly 3s. The name suggests something light and ethereal, and the weight confirms this idea: on the feet they are light, in the hand they are just as light. They can certainly be counted among the most discreet shoes to wear even though nominally the weight is not very low. Yet.
Yet the Ultrafly 3s are what you don’t expect, but in a positive way: they have a 5-mm drop (heel-to-toe difference), they have a wide toe box, and they have an undoubtedly natural setting. They are for all intents and purposes lightweight, responsive shoes suited to – indeed, inspired in every way by – natural running. But then when you wear them, they amaze you.
The weight, the shape, the feel
It was said: the perceived weight is less than one would imagine from a shoe that might fall by profile and midsole into the maximal category. When you put them on, you can feel considerable protection underfoot, thanks mainly to the 28 mm of material (between rubber in the sole and TPU-EVA in the midsole) in the heel and the 23 in the toe. There is quite a lot of substance down there and it has nothing to do with the feeling that many natural shoes give back, that, precisely, of having nothing or little between your feet and the road.
Much of the feel is due to the midsole material: TPU-EVA is less compressible than EVA and therefore returns a drier, firmer reaction to crushing, without to compromise the comfort of the shoes, thanks in part to the Ortholite insole with antibacterial treatment. This sandwich of materials and technologies is not the most technologically futuristic, especially in an era when carbon fiber increasingly dominates, yet allow me to talk a little differently. The goodness of a shoe comes not only from the technologies it uses but from something much more subtle and less measurable by laboratory instruments: it comes from the balance they give off. Or that they do not give off.
The Ultrafly 3s use mature and established technologies but in an ensemble that is very balanced. And balance is made up of elements you feel when you run with it, not on paper.
To the feet
Balance is given by opposing forces and often not of the same nature: there is the responsiveness of the shoe, its lightness (or weight), its solidity, the feeling of protection it communicates to you.
They are partly objective and partly almost emotional elements: you sense them but there is no yardstick to measure them. Or the meter is there, but it is wrong: how many “heavy” shoes on paper are light worn? Why? Because their lightness comes from the feeling and perception they give you, not from how much they weigh on a scale.
The Ultrafly 3s belong to this category: they are very balanced and solid shoes. Lightweight and responsive. That give you confidence and peace of mind in the end. If you analyze them piece by piece then you also understand why: they are responsive because the TPU-EVA midsole has that mechanical profile; they are solid because they have a very wide footprint and really rest on “a lot of stuff”; and they are quiet because the mass of material they are made of psychologically communicates a (real) idea of solidity.
Beyond aesthetics, beyond technology, certain shoes bring to the forefront the importance of how a set of components-those that make “the shoe”-can work in harmony. And this is definitely the case with the Topo Ultrafly 3.
Find the Topo Ultrafly 3s for sale in the online store or in sports stores for 170 euros.