The Salomon S/Lab Phantasm is a very fast, very light shoe, built for race day
Weight 199g (unisex)
Heel-To-Toe-Drop: 6mm
Type: road
Price: £165
Shop now – £165
RW summary
Very fast, very light, and barely detectable on your feet.
General comments
S/Lab is Salomon’s ‘Taste The Difference’ range – and the Phantasm is its latest creation. A road shoe, created especially for Kilian Jornet’s recent attempt at beating the 24-hour running world record, the Phantasm is a barely-there shoe that feels even lighter than its stated weight of 199g. The likes of Jornet may be able to use it for running ultra distances, but mere mortals will find that it’s suitable up to a maximum of about 10K.
Minimal upper
The whole aim of this shoe is to provide just enough of what you need while mostly staying out of the way. The upper is a good representation of this. It’s virtually seamless and made from a single layer of mesh which is partially see-through. On the plus side this keeps the weight down and the breathability high. On the downside, weatherproofing is poor and, more crucially, unless you have perfect biomechanics you’ll find this gives little lateral support. If you normally rely on a more rigid upper and overlays to guide and hold your foot in place. The heel counter is almost non-existent so you may have to experiment with different types of lacing to find a fit that holds your heel in place properly.
Rocking and rolling
Salomon has introduced what it’s calling a Reverse Camber. Known elsewhere as a rocker – essentially a curved shape to the mid-and outsole to help pop you up onto your toes quicker. It’s less pronounced than those on the likes of, say, a Hoka shoe, but our testers definitely noticed it and when they were running on the flat and picking up the pace they appreciated it.
Cushioning? What cushioning?
Now here’s the big Marmite bit of the shoe. Salomon has used a proprietary foam called Energy Surge which it says gives excellent bounce and cushioning for the low weight. We had this shoe on the feet of plenty of runners, of all shapes sizes and abilities. The feedback split along these lines: two very fast, very light runners described it as ‘surprisingly good’. Everyone else used a variation on the word ‘brutal’.
Slim silhouette
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As most Salomon shoes tend to be, the fit of this shoe is a narrow one. If you have slim to normal width feet, you’ll be fine. If you have wide feet, you’ve no chance of squeezing your plates of meat to these. The slim fit added to the sensation of speed and ruthless ambition. We had numerous people reporting that their conclusion was that this is an excellent shoe for track sessions where you can go for it for shortish bursts, and then recover in between.
Conclusion
In short, this is a very effective track session or race day shoe for short events. If you can use it for anything else, we can only applaud your biomechanics and your joints.
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