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40Race Shoe FinderEst. 2023 · London

Head to head

Mizuno Wave Rebellion Pro 4vs
Nike Alphafly 3

Wave Rebellion Pro 4

£125

Typical street price · £220 RRP

39mm — road legal
Alphafly 3

£203

Typical street price · £285 RRP

40mm — on the limit

Choose the Wave Rebellion Pro 4 if…

  • You want the lighter shoe: 185g against 218g, a 33g difference you will feel late in a race.
  • You race off a strong, repeatable stride and want the more aggressive ride rather than the safer one.
  • You have a narrow foot and want to be locked in.
  • Money matters: it is selling around £125 against £203, and the time difference between them is smaller than the price difference suggests.

Choose the Alphafly 3 if…

  • You want the bigger return: 3.4–4.6% economy gain against 2.9–4%, and that gap widens the longer you are out there.
  • You want something more forgiving. This is the steadier platform — useful if your form goes late, or if you are on your feet longer.
  • You want a conventional fit rather than a narrow or wide last.
  • You would rather buy on measured numbers: this shoe's specs are manufacturer-confirmed, the Wave Rebellion Pro 4's are estimated.

What does this
mean for you?

Every figure below is recalculated from your race and your current time. The gap between two shoes is not fixed — it grows with how long you are on your feet.

Over marathon from 3:45:00

Time back
Wave Rebellion Pro 4: 145s–219sAlphafly 3: 179s–260s
Cost per second saved
Wave Rebellion Pro 4: £0.17Alphafly 3: £0.23

Ranges, not promises. Both figures are against a standard trainer, and the honest answer for most runners is that the difference between two shoes of this class is smaller than the difference a month of decent training makes.

Every number.

010203040503933
Wave Rebellion Pro 4
010203040504032
Alphafly 3

What you pay

Street price
Wave Rebellion Pro 4£125■
Alphafly 3£203

What the shoe is actually selling for across the shops we read, not its RRP.

RRP
Wave Rebellion Pro 4£220
Alphafly 3£285

List price. Almost nobody pays it for a race shoe.

Cost per race
Wave Rebellion Pro 4£30■
Alphafly 3£51

Street price divided by the races the foam stays fast for.

Cost per second saved
Wave Rebellion Pro 4£0.17■
Alphafly 3£0.23

The whole-life question: what each second of race time costs you.

What it does

Estimated saving
Wave Rebellion Pro 4145s–219s
Alphafly 3179s–260s■

Against a standard trainer, over the distance and time set above.

Economy gain
Wave Rebellion Pro 42.9–4%
Alphafly 33.4–4.6%■
Built for
Wave Rebellion Pro 4Half · Marathon
Alphafly 3Half · Marathon
Best use case
Wave Rebellion Pro 4The cut-away heel forces you onto your forefoot whether you meant to or not. Divisive, distinctive, and fast if it suits you.
Alphafly 3Still the reference marathon shoe. The Air pods give a propulsive forefoot that nothing else quite replicates, and the wider platform makes it manageable late in a race when your form has gone.

How it is built

Weight
Wave Rebellion Pro 4185 g■
Alphafly 3218 g

Manufacturer figure at men's US 9.

Stack (heel)
Wave Rebellion Pro 439 mm
Alphafly 340 mm
Stack (forefoot)
Wave Rebellion Pro 433 mm
Alphafly 332 mm
Drop
Wave Rebellion Pro 46 mm
Alphafly 38 mm
Foam
Wave Rebellion Pro 4Enerzy Lite+
Alphafly 3ZoomX with Air Zoom pods
Plate
Wave Rebellion Pro 4carbon fibre
Alphafly 3carbon fibre

Rules and fit

Road legal
Wave Rebellion Pro 4Yes (39 mm)
Alphafly 3Yes (40 mm)

World Athletics caps road racing shoes at 40 mm of stack.

Fit
Wave Rebellion Pro 4narrow
Alphafly 3standard
Stability
Wave Rebellion Pro 4demanding
Alphafly 3balanced

Neither is better in the abstract — it depends on your stride.

Race life
Wave Rebellion Pro 4~260 km■
Alphafly 3~250 km

How long the foam stays fast, not how long the shoe survives.

Data confidence
Wave Rebellion Pro 4estimated
Alphafly 3verified■

■ marks the better figure where one is genuinely better. Fit, foam, drop and stability carry no mark — they depend on your foot and your stride, not on which shoe is superior.

In your size.

Where to buy

Your UK size

Best price today — some sizes£124.99at Sportitfirst — £95.01 under RRP

9 retailer checks failed on the last run, so their prices are missing rather than wrong.

Prices are captured when the site is built and stamped with the time of that check. We never rank a retailer by what it pays us; where a link earns a commission it is marked sponsored and the price you pay is unchanged.

Where to buy

Your UK size

Best price today — some sizes£199.99at Run North West — £85 under RRP

9 retailer checks failed on the last run, so their prices are missing rather than wrong.

Prices are captured when the site is built and stamped with the time of that check. We never rank a retailer by what it pays us; where a link earns a commission it is marked sponsored and the price you pay is unchanged.