Last year, the S-Lab Sense Ultra became Salomon鈥檚 bestselling S-Lab product to date. The shoe, co-designed with John Muir Trail FKT holder and two-time Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc champion Fran莽ois D鈥橦aene, was the brand鈥檚 first foray into an ultra-specific line of shoes.
On Thursday, the French brand launched an updated version, called the . (The shoe launched online last month and is now available in retail stores.)
This shoe is made to support ultra-distance-style pounding. To that end, it features a graduated stack; sizes above nine have increasingly higher levels of cushion to account for the fact that taller runners put more stress on their feet. It also has a polyurethane insert, intended to help prevent the shoe from packing out and breaking down over the course of a long race.聽
The new version is largely the same, with slight updates to the upper. Most noticeable: a striking red-and-purple graphic and an external cinching system, which tightens around the foot when you draw the laces in. Like all of Salomon鈥檚 S-Lab shoes, the S-Lab Ultra is unisex.
D鈥橦aene famously wore a single pair of the S-Lab Ultras on his way to victory at the 2017 UTMB, a 106-mile race around the Mont Blanc massif in the Alps. To celebrate D鈥橦aene鈥檚 victory and the launch of the new shoe, Salomon has also released a special-edition version with D鈥橦aene鈥檚 signature and the UTMB course profile printed on the heel. The brand made just 171 pairs to commemorate UTMB鈥檚 171 kilometers.
Unfortunately, the special-edition shoes are available only in Europe, so U.S. readers won鈥檛 be able to partake. However, the regular S-Lab Ultra is now available worldwide, and a more consumer-friendly Pro version ($150) is set to launch in August. The Pro will be slightly wider and not as lightweight, due to differences in the upper and the last.
I haven鈥檛 had the chance to test the new Pro version yet, but I鈥檒l have my hands on a pair soon and look forward to sharing my first impressions.