When Sharon Lokedi starts her run at Sunday’s New York City (NYC) Marathon, the athlete will be competing with her personal good luck charm — a pair of Under Armour’s Velociti Elite 3 shoes made to her specifications.
Lokedi laced up in the same shoe that helped her win the 2025 Boston Marathon in April at a time of 2:17:22, breaking the women’s course record. The decorated athlete won the 2022 NYC Marathon, was third in the 2023 NYC Marathon, second in the 2024 Boston Marathon and placed fourth at the 2024 Paris Olympics. While the unisex shoe had passed the final iteration stage, it wasn’t available to the public until last month, selling for $250 a pair.
Footwear News caught up with Lokedi Thursday night at a meet-and-greet hosted by the brand at Estiatorio Milos in Hudson Yards to talk about how the company works with its athletes.
Lokedi, who has partnered with UA since 2019, said she and the sports brand have been in discussions over how to fine-tune the Velociti Elite 3 for the past two years.
So what does she look for in a running shoe? “I get a shoe, and I try it for energy, return, comfort, and [assess] how light or heavy it is,” Lokedi said.
The back-and-forth between athlete and the development team could result in three or four iterations of the shoe, or more if needed. According to the distance runner, “Under Armour is very responsive to her feedback,” and is quick to send out a new prototype based on her critiques, sometimes in as little as one month.
One of the changes Lokedi wanted for the Velociti Elite 3 was a shoe that felt lighter in weight. That would help with both energy return while running and with the recovery phase after a race, she said. The athlete pointed out that she also wanted something with a bit more bounce in the step, something that would aid in “pushing me off the ground” as she ran, particularly late in a race.
Lokedi said the footwear definitely delivered during her Boston Marathon run. With the physical shoe concerns out of the way, she could focus on the mental details of her training, such as staying calm, setting her pace and staying confident throughout the race.
The Kenyan-born Lodeki typically competes in nine or 10 races a year, usually two marathons, two half marathons, a few 10Ks, a couple of 5Ks and maybe a shorter race or two.
Lokedi, who is looking forward to taking a break and spending time with her family after the New York marathon, said she’ll probably participate in some local community runs when she’s back at home in Flagstaff, Ariz.
Once she decides what races she’ll want to participate in next year, Lokedi will begin the training cycle all over again, starting about three months before a race.
According to Jonathan Hutnyan, senior product line manager for performance run footwear at Under Armour, “Athlete feedback is at the core of our process and it’s not just a checkpoint along the journey.”
He explained that the collaborative effort is an ongoing conversation that starts with early prototypes and continues through thousands of miles of testing. “If you look at the Velociti Elite 3, which Sharon wore to set a course record at the Boston Marathon, it was shaped by insights gathered over months of training and racing. Sharon’s feedback ranged from how the shoe locked in during long runs to the responsiveness she needed for late-race surges,” he said.
Hutnyan explained that insights are collected through “structured wear tests, in-depth debriefs, and performance data analysis.” He added that sometimes it can be even the smallest detail that will drive a major decision, “like how the foam feels at mile 18.”
The process involves a lot of testing that he described as “layered.” There are multiple rounds of lab and field testing. “Lab tests measure energy return, traction, and durability, while field tests validate real-world performance across different terrains and conditions. For Velociti Elite 3, we logged thousands of miles with athletes before finalizing the geometry and foam formulation,” he said, adding that A/B tests were run, “with variations in plates stiffness and upper construction to fine-tune the balance between propulsion and comfort.”
All that data is then leveraged with biomechanics research, material science and insights from different functions across the team. “This can mean optimizing the carbon plate for maximum propulsion, engineering a dual-layer HOVR+ foam for energy return, or looking at an alternate upper that can provide more of a dynamic stretch and lockdown. Every iteration is about helping runners train smarter, race harder, and redefine what’s possible,” he said.
The data also helps with fresh iterations of a shoe, as well as plays a role in ideating new models, with each predecessor becoming the benchmark for the next one.
“It gets really exciting when we have the inline team focused on the next one to two years and the innovation team looking three to five years ahead. This is when we start to build this toolkit of technologies to source from and that’s where the magic happens,” Hutnyan said.
The Velocity Elite 3, which incorporates a Leno weave stretch, features a full-length carbon fiber plate to provide “explosive lift-offs with every stride,” as well as a lightweight and responsive midsole foam that allows for high-energy return, according to the company.
Under Armour has also been busy making bigger investments in the performance shoe category. The latest is the new UA Halo Collection, which focuses on both aesthetics and performance. And last month in time for Climate Week NYC, the brand added to its collaboration with Unless for the introduction of three new regenerative sneaker styles. Under Armour acquired the world’s first all-plant, zero-plastic regenerative fashion brand in August 2024.
A look at the UA Velociti Elite 3 running shoe. Courtesy: Under Armour
