Nike launches Hybrid RN and Hybrid Fly to challenge Puma’s grip on fast-growing Hyrox market

Nike has designed two shoe models for hybrid training and racing and is releasing them first in China. The Nike Hybrid RN will be entering Chinese retail on Sept. 24 and making its worldwide debut, at nike.com and select stores, on Oct. 8. The Nike Hybrid Fly, the race-day sibling, won’t see worldwide release before April 2027.

The RN is built for daily training: ReactX foam and a single forefoot Air Zoom unit sit under a wide outsole, X-shaped upper overlays and a dual-rubber sole meant to grip through both a lift and a run. The Fly, designed for competition, pairs ZoomX foam with a full-length carbon Flyplate and dual forefoot Air Zoom units, wrapped in a wider, more stable base, race lockdown laces and four-zone traction. Where the RN errs on the side of versatility, the Fly makes no compromises – or such, at least, is Nike’s pitch.

Nike has tested both shoes on Hyrox athletes Dylan Scott and Lauren Weeks, both credited in the release as world champions in hybrid sports. Scott won his first individual Hyrox World Championship in Stockholm this year, at his sixth appearance, wearing a Fly prototype.

Both shoes will be competing commercially in a category that three years ago barely existed. Hyrox – eight one-kilometer runs alternating with eight functional stations – drew 1.3 to 1.5 million entrants worldwide during the 2025/26 season. Organizers are projecting about 100 events and more than a million entrants for the season ahead.

China’s numbers are growing faster than that, but growth is easy with small numbers. The country entered the sport only 20 months ago, while the world circuit dates to 2017.

China’s first Hyrox event took place in November 2024 and drew 1,515 competitors. By 2025 average registration per event had climbed to 5,079, more than tripling within a year. Shanghai alone went from roughly 3,600 racers in April 2025 to more than 10,000 in May 2026, and Hong Kong’s race grew from about 6,000 in 2024 to nearly 20,000 this year.

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Dylan Scott wore a prototype of the Nike Hybrid Fly during his win at the 2026 World Championship.

Source: NIKE Press Room

Lauren Weeks wore the Nike Hybrid Fly during her victory in the doubles event at the 2026 World Championships.

Source: NIKE Press Room

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It makes sense to introduce a hybrid shoe in a growing market for hybrid sports, but Nike likely has still other reasons.

Group revenue fell 1.1 percent to $10.97 billion in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2026, though a roughly $986 million refund of previously paid US tariffs lifted gross margin by about 900 basis points and put a shine on the headline profit figures. Full-year revenue held nearly flat at $46.4 billion, and net income fell 3 percent to $3.11 billion.

Greater China carried none of the quarter’s good news. Revenue there fell 12.1 percent to $1.297 billion in the fourth quarter and 11.2 percent to $5.847 billion for the full year, with footwear leading the decline in both periods.

CEO Elliott Hill credited the “Win Now” plan with making Nike’s comeback possible, while conceding that results still trail the company’s own targets. To goose Nike’s numbers for China he is proposing locally developed products, a sharper brand image and closer retail ties. These are the very things that a Chinese launch for the Hybrid RN would offer, whatever Nike’s internal rationale might be.