The Saucony Triumph 24 is a Fun, Light and Springy Training Wonder
The Saucony Triumph 24 is springy everyday trainer with a stunning weight-to-cushion ratio that won't punish your legs.
The Saucony Triumph 24 is a springy everyday trainer with a stunning weight-to-cushion ratio that is fun to run in and will never punish your legs.
Every runner’s shoe quiver needs a workhorse max-cushion trainer—something you can lace up on tired legs, beat up on back-to-back long run weekends, and trust to carry you through the unglamorous miles that actually make you fit.
For years, the Saucony Triumph has held that role for a lot of runners. But in recent years, it was one of those shoes that was just fine or competent. Reliable in the way that a good toaster is reliable. But after 80-plus miles in the new Triumph 24, I can tell you, just fine is a distant memory.
The Triumph 24 has gone through the most significant update it has seen in years, and could wind up as one of the hottest everyday trainers on the market this year. Not a coat of paint and a new colorway—a genuine leap forward. Saucony junked the PWRRUN PB midsole foam that had been powering this shoe and replaced it with its new incrediLUX compound, an Aliphatic TPU-based material that’s simultaneously much softer, much bouncier, and—somehow, against all logic—quite a bit lighter than what it replaced.
Then it stacked more of it underfoot, and trimmed meaningful grams from the upper. The Triumph 24 has made a roaring comeback thanks to more of what you crave, and less of what you don’t want or need. And that makes it a is high-mileage workhorse that doesn’t punish your legs.
Although it’s not the cushiest, lightest, or fastest shoe in the Saucony line, what the Triumph 24 is, finally and unambiguously, is the very best version of itself.
Price: $170 (men’s, women’s)
Approximate Weights: 8.8 oz. (men’s size 9); 7.6 oz. (women’s size 8)
Stack Height: 10mm; 43mm heel / 33mm forefoot
What’s New: The Saucony Triumph 24 is a legacy shoe that has been overhauled, and headline is the new foam package. Saucony has moved on from PWRRUN PB midsole foam—an ePEBA blend that served the Triumph line (and many other Saucony shoes) very well, but it had started to feel dated relative to the Aliphatic TPU (A-TPU) foams flooding the market—to incrediLUX, its new ATPU-based compound that debuted in the Endorphin line and has now trickled down to the training shelf.
The result is a shoe that dropped almost a half ounce—from 9.2 oz. to 8.8 oz. (men’s size 9)— despite adding 6mm of stack height front and back. That’s not a small engineering trick—that’s a meaningful rethink of what a daily trainer can be. The upper also got a refresh: lighter mesh, cleaner midfoot lockdown, a more refined fit that feels less like the shoe is wearing you and more like you’re wearing the shoe.
Fit/Feel/Ride: The Saucony Triumph 24 fits true to size with a medium volume interior volume that tends to get wider through the forefoot, but a secure midfoot keep it from feeling sloppy. The step-in feel is unmistakably soft with a cushy and breathable fully gusseted tongue that integrates seamlessly with the soft, round laces and the smooth, cushy heel collar and beveled, elf-like heel collar aimed at reducing Achilles strain.
Saucony has tuned the Triumph 24 with a rockered shape and toe spring to promote a smooth, forward-rolling transition. The forefoot is genuinely soft—probably too soft for runners who want crisp leverage at toe-off during faster efforts. However, the smooth rocker and energetic foam combination means this shoe runs faster than its “max plush daily trainer” positioning would suggest.
Why It’s Great: The weight-to-cushion ratio is the real story here. Most shoes with a 43mm heel stack feel exactly like that—a lot of foam between you and the pavement, with the heft and handling you’d expect. The Triumph 24 doesn’t feel heavy on foot. It feels like a normal running shoe at the lighter end of the spectrum that happens to have an unusually soft, accommodating midsole and a decidedly springy vibe.
IncrediLUX is among the most plush foams I’ve run on—it has that luxurious bouncy quality that makes your first 5 minutes feel like you’re gliding. What separates it from dead-soft foams is what happens next: push off, and there’s something there. The foam compresses and rebounds with enough energy to contribute to forward propulsion, not just absorb it.
Why You’ll Love It: Here’s the thing about max-cushion shoes with bold midsole claims: the numbers don’t tell you whether a shoe actually runs well. Plenty of maximalist trainers feel like you’re jogging through wet sand—soft, sure, but dead on the feet. IncrediLUX is not that. The Triumph 24 served up energy return that surprised me. It’s not the snappy, propulsive pop of a carbon super shoe, it feels more like running on a well-tuned trampoline: soft on landing, with enough bounce at toe-off to keep your stride feeling lively for mile after mile.
The Triumph 24 is great for easy miles, long runs, recovery days, high-mileage training weeks. I’ve used it for easy Zone 2 miles, 14-mile long runs, and a handful of Zone 3 marathon-paced efforts. While I wouldn’t call it a tempo shoe, it didn’t embarrass itself at 7:30 pace either. The bottom line for me is that it’s a fun shoe to run in. If you’re the kind of runner who grabs whatever’s on top of the shoe pile for an easy 8-miler before work, this is a shoe you’ll want on top of that pile.
Why You Might Not Like It: The biggest drawback of the Saucony Triumph 24 is probably that it can feel unstable for runners who have an unstable gait that leads to wobbling while rolling through from heel-strike to toe-off.
Pro: Thanks in part to a thin XT-900 carbon rubber outsole, the cushion-to-weight ratio is genuinely impressive—among the best in the max-plush category. Running in a shoe this soft and this light feels like a trick that shouldn’t work, but it does.
Con: The forefoot compliance is significant enough that runners who want crisp leverage during faster workouts may find the Triumph 24 vague underfoot. It’s a long-run and recovery-day shoe through and through — and it shouldn’t try to be anything else. The other thing is that it makes a hard-to-ignore squeaky sound when your feet crash to the ground.
About the Author
Contributing editor Brian Metzler is the Content Director for UltraSignup.com. He has wear-tested more than 2,000 running shoes and is the author of “Kicksology: The Hype, Science, Culture and Cool of Running Shoes” (2019) and “Trail Running Illustrated” (2021). He has raced just about every distance from 100 meters to 100 miles, but he’s most eager to share stories about his experiences pack burro racing in Colorado and riding trains to run trails in Chamonix, France.
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