NNormal Kjerag vs NNormal Tomir Trail Runners – Reviewed & Compared

New trail running brand NNormal has two flagship shoes but which one is right for you? Tim’s been running in both and breaks down the differences in this comparison.

When the world’s best trail runner, Killian Jornet, started his own shoe brand with a huge focus on durability and sustainability, people took notice. Killian left his sponsor Salomon after many years because he was starting to see the impact of climate change in the mountains he explores, and reckoned there was a better way.

The result was Nnormal, whose name combines Norway, where Killian lives with his family, and Mallorca, the Spanish island he’s from, and where supporting brand Camper are based.

The double N? Well apart from making it a bastard to search, it’s a reference to Camper’s old brand ‘Runner’, which had a stylised double N. It’s also a bit of a reference to New Normal, which is one of the key goals of the brand.

Kjerag vs Tomir

NNormal has two main shoes. The Kjerag is what you’d call its ‘race’ shoe and was the first launch by NNormal. It’s named after an 1100m tall mountain in Norway that can be reached by trails of all kinds of difficulty, but always rewards people with a mega view at the summit.

To test this versatility Killian famously competed in four iconic races in 2022 using the same pair of Kjerags. There’s a great film about it on YouTube. From the red hot 31km Sierre-Zinal to the gruelling 171km UTMB. He won three of them, set course records, and put 1200km on the shoes.

The second shoe was named the Tomir, after Puig Tomir, an 1103m (consistency much?) mountain on Mallorca. And this is where it gets confusing. The Tomir is also marketed as made for everyone, and everything. Yet it’s heavier, with a thicker sole, deeper lugs, and more durable features. Oh and it actually has an inner sole. So what’s the deal?

The NNormal Kjerag in white and the Tomir in a slightly more trail-friendly colourway

But first, why am I the one to write this comparison?

There’s a lot of outdoor gear content out there these days that’s written by people who’ve never taken the product beyond the pavement, if they even had it in their hands at all.

That’s not how we do it at We Are Explorers. I’m a diehard trail runner who’s written many of the trail runner reviews on the site. I run everything from wet technical trails around Sydney to fire trails and *gulp* road runs, and I regularly compete in races. I’ve got a 65km race on the Larapinta Trail in 9 days time and I’m taking the Tomirs along for the ride.

Tim grimacing through the end of UTA50 in 2022

NNormal Kjerag

The Kjerag is super light at 200g. It has no fussy features really. Think normal laces, and a Vibram sole with a fairly standard lug pattern. It’s aggressively minimal for a trail shoe and doesn’t have an inner sole. My white ones even did away with dye!

Key Specifications

Weight: 200g (US men’s size 9)
Stack height: 23.5/17.5mm
Heel to toe drop: 6mm
Recommended retail price: $320
Sex: Unisex

Kjerag – fast, light, sexy

NNormal Tomir

The Tomir is also unisex and also pretty low fuss, yet it’s burlier in almost every aspect and has an offset lacing system. If the Kjerag started with a road running shoe and made it into a trail runner, the Tomir feels like it started with a hiking shoe and turned it into a trail runner.

It’s worth noting that I’ve been running in the Tomir 1.0 and the Tomir 2.0 has just come out with a thicker sole, more rocker, and softer lighter foam. It also comes in a dope waterproof boot, that’s admittedly pretty useless in Australia.

Key Specifications

Weight: 240 (US men’s size 9)
Stack height: 31/23mm
Heel to toe drop: 8mm
Recommended retail price: $270
Sex: Unisex

Tomir – Heavier, durable, still sexy

NNormal Kjerag vs NNormal Tomir Features Comparison

The NNormal Kjerag is based around their new EExpure midsole, whose foam is apparently a supercritical EVA (supercritcial means they use gas to create tiny bubbles, reduce weight, and increase cushioning). To me it feels like the soft, springy PEBA foam used in a lot of road running supershoes these days. The lack of an inner sole is a feature, not a bug, designed to offer the ‘best-possible propulsion and compression, less slippage, and way fewer blisters’.

There’s also a Matryx® Jacquard upper that (apart from reminding me of the king in Shrek) uses a kevlar-polyamide weave for super high durability, and the dyeing process uses 50-95% less water than normal. 

What about the Tomir? Surprisingly its upper is quite different, and uses a blend of polyester and TPE to create a tough upper. There’s strong ‘craft’ stitching to the midsole underneath the TPE to keep the shoe together and a striking asymmetrical lacing pattern – more on that later. The Tomir uses a more standard EVA foam that’s not as soft or springy as the Kjerag.

Both shoes use VIBRAM® Megagrip and Litebase tech that’s known for its high performance grip and weight saving, thanks to a 50% thinner sole.

The Kjerag and Tomir are both designed to be resoled too, which is a huge step forward for longevity in trail runners as it’s usually the first thing to go. The program, which is a collaboration with Vibram, doesn’t appear to be available in Australia yet, but hopefully will be soon.

Both shoes have incredible grip, but Tomir has 1.5mm deeper lugs

Performance

The Nnormal Kjerag is a bit of a contradiction as a do-anything race shoe. Maybe if you’re the GOAT of ultra trail running it really is, but for me the Kjerag is a dedicated race and tempo trail shoe. It’s springy, insanely light, and feels brilliant at speed, but at slower paces the 23.5mm stack height doesn’t quite feel like enough. Even at speed I was sometimes caught off guard by just how much an errant rock pushed through the midsole and in a 20k trail race with a heap of fire trail I found it a bit minimal on the descents.

The Tomir on the other hand is completely at home just plodding along, or even hiking, and I didn’t have the same problems with too much trail feel. They work nicely when you pick up the pace too, but there’s not quite the same extra gear of the Kjerags from the combo of lightness and springiness. The Tomir 2.0 has added a supercritical EVA sole like the Kjerag and increased stack height to 33/25mm, which might solve these problems.

Grip

The Kjerags have 3.5mm lugs in an aggressive angled pattern not unlike a Salomon. The rubber sticks like it’s getting paid and I only had problems in the muddiest of conditions. The thin midsole helps the shoe flex to find grip on uneven terrain too.

Vibram Megagrip + Litebase goes hard

The Tomir’s grip is a burly 5mm that copes a bit better in really adverse conditions, and the lugs feel like they push through soil and find purchase on rocks just that bit better. As far as trail runners go however, both shoes are exceptional.

Hiking shoe vibes are a little stronger on the Tomir

Durability

The VIBRAM® Megagrip compound on both shoes is made to be very durable and my shoes are barely showing signs of wear (the Tomirs have over 100km on them so far). I’ll come back if something changes as I’m hoping to test NNormal’s claim that the shoes last for over 1000km – hundreds of kilometres more than the industry standard.

Likewise the uppers haven’t shown any signs of wear beyond some scratching, and have held up to getting soaked very well. All this makes sense for a shoe aiming to get itself resoled, but it’s great to see in person.

Protection surrounds Kjerag to prevent delamination

Comfort

Fit

The Kjerags have an ample toebox and wide lacing across the tongue, giving heaps of room for adjustment. The fit is pretty average to be honest, true to size and width as far as I can tell.

The Kjerag has a lightweight, simple tongue that works

The Tomirs surprisingly feel slightly narrower, though not enough to cause any problems. I actually ran with blisters from another shoe and had no problems in the Tomir, but worth thinking about if you have a wider foot. The offset lacing wasn’t as lifechanging as expected and I think is more of a solution to help tighten the less flexible materials used in the upper without the material folding.

The Tomir tongue is almost identical, no notes

Cushioning

As mentioned, the Kjerags are pretty light on cushioning, and this extends to other parts of the shoe like the collar and tongue. The lack of an inner sole is genuinely WEIRD at first, but I got used to it and can’t say it’s causing any issues. But I reckon it’d feel more comfortable on longer runs if it had one.

The Tomir feels a bit stiff overall, from the firmer sole to the tough upper. It’s caused zero issues, but if having your foot feel snug and pampered is important it might not be the shoe for you.

Design

Just look at the pics! In my opinion the Kjerag and Tomir are both objectively sexy trail runners with cool colours, classy branding, and clean lines. But I’m a bit biased, Killian is cool and I’m a trail running nerd – I’m sure some people think they’re ugly.

As for the other aspects of the design, I love the Kjerag’s upper and foam, while the Tomir has better protection and grip. It seems like the Tomir 2.0 is heading toward a shoe that combines these design strengths and I can’t wait to test it out.

The shoes share a lot of DNA

Sustainability

Gosh, it’s nice to have something to say in this section. NNormal’s motto is ‘Your path, no trace’ and they’re both a B Corp and 1% for the planet member. I’ve already talked about the radical approach to durability, but there’s also circularity baked into the company (however the No Trac Program isn’t available in Aus yet). NNormal also transparently shares their CO2 emissions and has targets to bring these to zero, sharing exactly where their products are made.

It’s all good stuff. NNormal really feels like a company setting out to solve a problem and change the industry, rather than just adding a bit of recycled material to their shoes and calling it a day.

Both shoes are listed as producing 8.25kg of CO2 per item lifecycle, which is crazy when you think that a pair can weigh as little as 400g.

The CO2 per lifecycle is 20 times greater than the weight of the shoe, and it’s probably one of the better ones

Price

The Kjerag comes in at $320, which is definitely a little spicy but pretty standard for the race shoe market. Given Killian’s name and some of the technologies in the shoe they probably could have charged closer to $420 like the Norda 002 I reviewed and sold heaps. But they didn’t and I like that. If you get the advertised 1200km out of them then they effectively cost $160 compared to a lot of trail runners on the market.

The Tomir 1.0 retails at $270 but you might get it for much less at the moment as the Tomir 2.0 hits the market. I reckon that’s a steal for the quality of this shoe. It can genuinely do everything from multi-day hiking to a trail race and I’m sure it’s going to last for years, perhaps even get resoled, which can’t be said for a lot of its competitors.

Assymetrical lacing, not the gamechanger I’d hoped it would be

Which NNormal shoe is for me?

Every shoe manufacturer wants to say that their shoe can do it all but it often leads to confusion. In NNormal’s case, the Kjerag is a great shoe for fast trail runs, races, and people who like a wider toe box and lots of trail feel. It’ll definitely give you an edge and it’s bloody fun to run in. The Tomir on the other hand is the real Norwegian/Mallorcan Army Knife – it’s extra durable, comfortable at any speed and in basically any conditions. If I had to choose one, it’d be the Tomir, I trust it enough that I’ll be using it for the 65km Standley Monster ultramarathon on Larapinta, but watch me crack out the Kjerags for a fast one once my legs have recovered.

Nnormal Kjerag and Nnormal Tomir FAQs

What is the drop of the Nnormal Kjerag?

The Kjerag has a 6mm heel to toe drop. The stack height is 23.5mm at the back and 17.5mm at the front.

What is the drop of the Nnormal Tomir 1.0?

The Tomir 1.0 has an 8mm heel to toe drop, which is a bit easier on the calves. The stack height is 31mm at the back and 8mm at the front.

What is the drop of the Normal Tomir 2.0?

The Tomir 2.0 has an 8mm heel to toe drop but a 2mm higher stack height for more cushion. The stack height is 33mm at the back and 25mm at the front. The midsole also uses EExpure 45C supercritical foam similar to that on the Nnormal Kjerag and adds rocker.

Who founded NNormal?

Ultra trail runner Killian Jornet founded Nnormal with the help of Camper.

Which NNormal shoe is better for racing?

The Nnormal Kjerag is a lighter, faster shoe and better for racing, however in longer races (marathon or greater) the Nnormal Tomir could be the better choice depending on how much cushion you like.

Which NNormal shoe is more durable?

The Tomir is heavier and has more durable features and deeper lugs, so is likely to last longer than the Kjerag. Both the Kjerag and the Tomir claim to last over 1000km of trail running and we will be doing our best to test this.