Can the TYR Valkyrie Elite 2 soar into race day?

Introduction to the TYR Valkyrie Elite v2

CHAD: In a complete twist of ironic timing, I had just finished reading Neal Gaiman’s Norse Mythology the very week that the TYR Valkyrie Elite V2 showed up at my house. For those not caught up on their Scandinavian myths, the Valkyries were the beings who guided those who died honorable deaths to Odin’s Valhalla, the majestic hall of Asgard, home of the Gods. And how would they get those souls to Valhalla? Flight, of course. Hence, TYR's winged logo is more than appropriate.

The Valkyrie Elite V2 is TYR’s second effort to break into the race day field. This shoe features a supercritical aTPU midsole that TYR calls Hyperlaunch, a carbon powerplate, its TYRTac high-traction outsole, and an eTPU mesh upper that is almost as thin as it gets.

 Packed all together, the Valkyrie Elite V2 comes in at a staggeringly light 5.3 oz. for a US M9. But in an age where nearly every brand has put out a high-quality race day option, is there room for TYR at Odin’s table?

KARL: TYR has been in the athletics game for quite some time. If you come from swimming or triathlon, you’ve probably heard of them before. Our team has reviewed several shoes over the last few years that have earned some pretty decent remarks, but the Valkyrie Elite v2 is the first TYR shoe I’ve tried, so I’m coming in fresh without much knowledge of the brand. 

On paper, the Valkyrie Elite v2 sounds like a rocket. It’s very exciting to see lesser-known brands in the running space come out of the gate swinging. So how does this stack up against a slew of competitors in the race day category?

KALEB: I went through a pretty solid Rick Riordan phase in middle school, but I’m glad Chad covered the mythology lesson so I didn’t have to be designated the nerd of this review. I won’t add anything to his recap of the Valkyries, but I will chime in on the shoe side of things. 

Chad and I reviewed a few of TYR’s fledgeling road shoe offerings a couple of years back, including the original Valkyrie Elite Carbon. It was a decent, if firm, option for its time, but it didn’t outperform the big dogs. When I saw the new version two was incoming, I expected to see the usual “quality, but technologically delayed” design we saw in the original…

I was thrilled to be wrong.

The others have already covered the specs, the scale-tip-toeing weight, and the lovely ATPU midsole. I was also excited to see an extended carbon plate that peeks past the toe, rather similar to a certain big cat brand…

Suffice it to say, this ain’t your amma’s Valkyrie (that’s “grandma” in Old Norse. Move over Chad, guess I’m hopping in the nerd seat with you). Let’s get into it. Huzzah or whatever. What do vikings say?

What we like about the TYR Valkyrie Elite v2

CHAD: Straight out of the box, it was love at first sight with the Valkyrie Elite v2. I absolutely love the design of this shoe, with the ombre red-orange midsole and the all-white upper. The fit of the shoe was initially concerning, as it definitely has that race-day snugness to it. However, once the shoe is on foot and you get moving, the malleability of the mesh holds you in place without strangling you. Plus, sawtooth laces really round out the solid design elements.

TYR makes a bold claim that this shoe returns 90% of the total energy put in, but I have to say I believe it. I put the Valkyrie Elite v2 through three different tempo and speedwork sessions, including a hill repeat workout, all of which went better than I could have expected. 

Hitting fast paces was easier than I could have imagined in this shoe, and not just hitting them but sustaining them as well. The geometry of this shoe, which I’ll admit was a little off-putting at first (given the arching of the midsole right under the midfoot). However, once the extremely tacky TYRTac outsole hits the pavement, it’s like putting a car on cruise control.

The Valkyrie Elite v2 was shockingly stable given the weight and softness of the ATPU midsole, and on transition and roll-through, it almost seemed as if the shoe actively pushed me toward my outer toes instead of rolling in, which occurs in a lot of super shoes.

KARL: The TYR Valkyrie Elite v2 is a slim, race-ready shoe. It sports a very breathable and see-through mesh eTPU SPDWeave upper that features some sparkly, iridescent shine when the light hits it right. It has my beloved sawtooth laces, a thinly padded tongue, and just enough cushion in the heel to provide some comfort and structure but not enough to weigh you down.

Speaking of weight, Chad alluded to it earlier, but this thing is freakin’ light. Coming in at 5.7 oz (164g) for my US M10.5 is wild and competes with the lightest race day offerings on the market today. As someone who is teetering between a US M10.5 and US M11 for race day shoes, I have to say the M10.5 fit like a glove. There’s enough room and volume in the toe box while slimming at the midfoot and coming out to a slightly wider heel (but I’ll get to that a bit more in the next section).

The snug fit, combined with the Hyperlaunch ATPU foam and the carbon Powerplate, makes this thing just sing on the road. The midsole is soft and compliant but provides an extreme bounce and toe-off that pushes you right along. Thomas compared the ride to the Puma Fast-R 3, Puma’s more aggressive race day offering, and I have to agree, although I only did a handful of runs in the Puma. Overall, doing workouts in this shoe felt effortless, and doing easy warm-up miles felt just as good.

KALEB: The other two glazed the visuals already, but call me “every Taylor Swift fan ever,” cuz I am hopping on the bandwagon (sorry team, that was low-hanging fruit, I know). There’s the sleek stormtrooper black-and-white colorway, which is impossible to mess up, and then there's the glorious Sun colorway with its orange-yellow gradient midsole and shimmery upper. Seriously, this colorway is a work of art, and it looks like a dang bullet on foot.

On the run, the Valkyrie Elite v2 does everything but run for you. My first experimental stride down the dorm hallways nearly sent me through the wall with the forward momentum I picked up. The fit is flawless, and the rocker hits just right, so the carbon plate can give a ton of leverage without feeling jarring or harsh. The ATPU foam is incredibly soft, but bouncy enough that you’re not worried about leaking energy.

As long as you ain't turning, this shoe stays burning.

I took the Valkyrie Elite v2 on three workout runs: a 30-minute tempo session, a 13-mile aerobic progression run, and, in a morbid display of disdain for the shoe’s intended use, threshold 400m repeats on a grass-and-gravel loop. The cross country season waits for no shoe. Shockingly, the Valkyrie handled everything really well. 

I had the most trouble on the tempo, trying to slam some sharp turns at high speeds and paying the running economy price, but the overall stability of the shoe pleasantly surprised me. On the grass workout, I was afraid I’d snap every bone south of the knee, but I didn’t even wobble around the curves. I nearly cracked the plate on a big rock, but that’s on me (and the plate is fiiiiine. Really, it’s fine, I promise).

The progression run was probably the most true-to-intent scenario of my testing period, and it was also the run that the Valkyrie Elite v2 shone the most. We were consistently a few seconds fast on the pace for each mile, but despite progressing down to near-tempo paces by mile 13, I felt like I was jogging. On level, straight roads, the economy savings of this shoe are just insane, and it does it all without fatiguing the feet and lower legs like some carbon-plated shoes out there.

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What we don't like about the TYR Valkyrie Elite v2

CHAD: There's not a lot to include here. On my first run, given the thinness and construction of the upper, I got a blister on my right heel with the socks TYR sent. However, it wasn’t an issue the other times I wore the shoe, so was it the socks? Who knows. 

Also, the sawtooth laces are nice, but they are a bit short. Oh, and I know we’re all about shedding weight, but please gusset the tongue. With the thin tongue, I had a hard time getting it to lay perfectly flat each time I put the shoe on, requiring multiple attempts to get the tongue laid perfectly.

My only other knock, which is more just commentary, is that this shoe is aggressive. Realistically speaking, I don’t see myself taking this shoe beyond a half marathon, and that might even be a stretch. That said, I feel like I could absolutely rip a 5k or 10k in it.

KARL: As good as the ride is, it may be a difficult match if you’re more of a heel-to-midfoot striker as opposed to midfoot-to-forefoot. The stability is quite good in the forefoot, but it tends to get a little wonky in the back. It’s not de-coupled like the Puma Fast-R3, but it still has a similar sensation. To me, the shoe really wants you to land and pop off the front. If I were primarily a heel striker, I’m not sure this shoe would be my first choice.

I didn’t have much of an issue with the tongue not being gusseted, but I will echo what Chad said in that I usually prefer a gusseted tongue, especially if it’s very thin and lacks structure (as most race day shoes do). I understand needing to cut materials wherever possible to achieve the weight they did, but I’d sacrifice a few grams to get a slightly better lockdown.

KALEB: Ripping turns at high speeds was unpleasant. Given the softness of the foam, no super shoe is gonna be stable around 90-degree turns at 40mm. I get it. I just wish the subsequent load on my stability muscles didn’t spike my heart rate to the moon mid-tempo session. Call me salty.

I experienced some very uncomfortable blistering in the heels when I used the TYR socks, so I switched over to thick merino running socks on my next few runs in the Valkyrie Elite v2, and that solved the issue. Still, always worth noting, especially when Chad had the same issue.

The rubber on one of my shoes came with a slight factory defect and split easily, so I can’t say this too objectively, but I experienced a bit of outsole wear even across limited mileage. While true that I did abuse the Valkyrie a bit more than TYR would recommend, it’s good to remember that no matter what kind of durability promises a race day shoe makes, keep in mind that you’re still only aiming to get a few races worth of mileage for your money… $280 in this case.

What you should gather from this section is that we kind of have to grasp at straws to find any substantive beef with the Valkyrie Elite v2. That’s a really good sign. Most things “wrong” with the Valkyrie Elite v2 are the same sort of thing that’s wrong with just about every other race day shoe.

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Final thoughts on the TYR Valkyrie Elite v2

CHAD: If you're looking for a lightweight, snappy yet bouncy, aggressive race day shoe, then TYR has the one for you in the Valkyrie Elite v2. Given the weight and the aggressiveness, I’m not sure that I could handle it for 26.2 miles, but I definitely could see myself ripping a fast race from anything between a 5k and a half marathon. 

The $280 price tag might scare off some people given that it is up there with the likes of the Alphafly and other more established offerings. But from my perspective, the performance matches the price tag.

KARL: The TYR Valkyrie Elite v2 is a versatile, light, and very energetic race day shoe. It ticks all the boxes for me, and if I had to race anything between 5K and marathon today, it’s hard not to have this shoe in contention. 

I know TYR is going up against some big competitors in the race day category, so $280 may seem a lot for a brand that isn’t particularly high in the ranks amongst the general running community, but if you’re looking for something super light and aggressive and don’t care much about branding, then the TYR Valkyrie Elite v2 is definitely worth considering.

KALEB: I agree with Chad and Karl that this shoe is a rocket of a sleeper pick for 2026. Excluding the “Hyper Shoe” category like the Adidas Pro Evo and Asics Metaspeed Ray, the Valkyrie Elite v2 is one of the lightest race day shoes out there that doesn't sacrifice the staple traits that make it a viable option for 26.2 miles. 

Unlike the other two, I probably wouldn’t make the Valkyrie my first pick below the Half Marathon. That’s probably a demographic difference; as a track/cross country runner, I’m used to slamming my feet into the ground as hard as I can for miles at a time, so I want something a little lower-stack to bite into when the pace gets hot and it’s time to surge.

That said, this shoe is a super versatile option for all sorts of speeds, and it certainly would perform well even at shorter distances. That also likely means it’ll let you sustain a faster-than-normal pace for your longer-distance races, so if you’re a fan of race day shoes that you can really feel push the pace faster underfoot, pick up the TYR Valkyrie Elite v2.

You can pick up the TYR Valkyrie Elite V2 for $280 at TYR using the shop link below.

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