An improved athletic shoe in which the solepiece has a wedge to facilitate supporting the runner's foot when contacting the ground; the toe box section being provided with pleats to allow expansion for toe movement when the foot flexes; the solepiece is provided with a flexure break segment of reduced thickness following the phalangal-metatarsal joint line of action of the human foot to permit differential flexure of the solepiece in a manner following such lines of action; and the heel part of the solepiece is rounded for optimizing initial and following ground foot contact.
