Boardroom went inside the brand’s Sports Research Lab during the 129th Boston Marathon to explore the tech, science, and testing powering its fastest shoes yet.
In the competitive world of performance footwear, few things are as sacred to runners as their race-day shoes. It’s the pair they’ve trained with, trusted, and finally, laced up when it’s time to push their limits. New Balance knows this, and it’s doubling down on technology to make that experience even better.
Boardroom joined New Balance in Boston for the 129th Boston Marathon, where we learned about the advanced tech, elite athlete insights, and innovation happening behind the scenes of the brand’s race-day shoe development. From its state-of-the-art Sports Research Lab to real-time athlete feedback loops, New Balance is investing in performance with precision.
Inside the Sports Research Lab
A key driver of New Balance’s product evolution is its Sports Research Lab, led by Director Jinger Gottschall and a team of dedicated sports scientists embedded within the brand’s innovation division. Located across the street from New Balance headquarters, the lab functions like a think tank meets tech hub, combining motion capture, biomechanics, and qualitative feedback from both elite and everyday runners.
But this isn’t your average test space. The lab is divided into specialized rooms — from an Athlete Insights room and the Smash Lab for testing material properties to the Running Lab, where those same shoes are put into action.
Technology is at the core of every step. The Running Lab is outfitted with over 20 cameras utilizing 3D motion capture technology and a dual-sided treadmill featuring embedded force plates to measure athlete movement and ground reaction forces. This setup enables the team to analyze gait, stride efficiency, and impact, allowing for precise refinements to New Balance running shoes for optimal performance and comfort.
One of my favorite rooms was the Smash Lab, where high-level mechanical testing takes place. It’s equipped to measure the durability, cushioning, rebound, and other physical properties of running shoes through repeatable, data-driven tests. By simulating real-world wear and stress, the Smash Lab helps engineers validate performance claims and refine materials before shoes ever hit the pavement.
Kevin FitzPatrick, the vice president of global performance running at New Balance, leads the brand’s overall running business. He oversees everything from long-term strategy and product development to bringing performance shoes to market worldwide.
“The lab lets us test new ideas fast — and fail fast when needed,” FitzPatrick told Boardroom. “We’ve got sports scientists, engineers, and designers literally working with their hands to mock up early prototypes, and we can test them in a matter of weeks.”
By pairing athlete feedback with raw data, the team can make evidence-based decisions that impact even the smallest details, such as lace tension or outsole curvature. And since the lab is just steps away from the design studio, those insights move quickly into prototypes, testing rounds, and final products. This feedback loop is crucial to performance validation. Runners test shoes in the lab and real-world conditions, generating both mechanical data and wear-test insights. FitzPatrick said New Balance sends out prototypes across the brand’s wear test program and gathers feedback after runs, spanning one mile to 50 and beyond.
It’s this proximity to both tech and talent that allows New Balance to innovate faster and smarter. The New Balance FuelCell SuperComp Elite v4s have been the star of New Balance’s running show since they dropped in early 2024, earning praise for their lightweight feel, springy ride, and race-day performance. But even with that success, New Balance is already deep into developing multiple successors.
“We’re constantly running multiple products at the same time,” FitzPatrick said. “The industry is evolving so fast, and we have the tools to evolve with it.”
The Race Day Revolution Starts With the Runner
At the heart of New Balance’s performance strategy is a deep understanding of how runners want to feel — not just on race day, but across an entire training cycle.
“Some days they just want to feel a little bit faster,” Paul Zielinski, New Balance’s senior global product manager for performance running, told Boardroom. “So we make sure we have shoes that deliver that specific experience—whether it’s Monday or Saturday.”
With over a decade of experience at New Balance, Zielinski plays a crucial role in translating runner insights into high-performance footwear by leading cross-functional teams through design, development, and go-to-market strategies. For Zielinski and the product team, this mindset fuels decisions around design, material science, and how the brand communicates with runners. The Fresh Foam X 1080v14, one of the brand’s flagship models, is built with that same “feel-first” approach. Its Fresh Foam X midsole is engineered for a plush yet responsive ride, ideal for everyday training and recovery sessions.
“We don’t want a range of products that all do the same thing. We need unique running experiences across each one of our shoes,” he said.
Zielinski not only helps build the shoes — he lives in them, offering a real runner’s perspective on what each model delivers. One thing he emphasized was the merging of lifestyle and performance design: Running shoes now need to look good enough for the airport and perform well enough for a marathon.
“There used to be this binary — style or performance. If you wanted one, you couldn’t have the other. That’s just not true anymore,” Zielinski said. “We work with a really impressive and talented color team that’s on the front end of trends, so our running products are hitting how runners want to look.”
Chris Morfesi, a senior global product manager for performance running, has been with New Balance since 2018 and also plays a key role in evolving the brand’s race-day footwear. As a self-proclaimed “shoe nerd,” Morfesi is obsessed with dialing in performance details, especially when it comes to upgrading products runners already love.
New Balance continues to improve on each of its product lines. But for Morfesi, performance is about more than metrics and design; it’s about moments.
“Race day is such an important moment,” he said. “This shoe needs to deliver confidence to everyone, whether it’s their first race or their hundredth.”
That mentality is what grounds the innovation. Behind every material update, stiffness tweak, or outsole refinement is a team building with real runners in mind, elite and amateur alike.
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Built for Every Finish Line
While the tech might be complex, the mission behind the shoe is simple: give runners confidence on race day. Whether that’s Olympic medalist and New Balance athlete Alex Yee preparing for his London Marathon debut or a Boston local tackling their first 5K, the shoe is built to support every kind of journey.
“We designed this with everyone in mind,” Morfesi said. “You’re not just wearing a shoe. You’re wearing something that understands how hard you’ve trained, how much this day means, and how much you want to perform.”
From the lab to the finish line, New Balance is using technology not just to make shoes, but to make milestones.
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