8/10
Open rating explainerInformationWIREDUpgraded grippy outsole. Midsole foam is 50 percent lighter than last-gen shoe. Carbon fiber “ring” instead of a midsole plate. Surprisingly protective.TIREDOutside of a pro, most people cannot maintain locked-in form for 26 miles. Probably not enough control for tight turns.On Sunday, Sabastian Sawe became the first runner to clock a sub-2-hour marathon in an official race. He did it wearing the latest version of Adidas’ top performance running shoe—the Adidas Adizero Adios Pro Evo 3 ($500). (They’re currently sold out, because of course they are.) This impossibly light, under-100-grams (3.5 ounces) carbon race shoe promises boosted running economy. In other words, it can cut the energy cost of pounding out the miles. For Sawe, the Pro Evo 3 clearly delivered, but is it a sensible option for the rest of chasing marathon PRs?
I was lucky enough to be one of the first to lace it up, taking them for a 5 kilometer treadmill test ahead of the launch at the London Marathon. Here are my first impressions on whether you should start saving up.
Highs and Lows
Photograph: Kieran AlgerWhen it comes to weight-saving running shoes, the Adidas Adios Pro Evo 3 sets a new low benchmark. At under 100 grams, it’s unfathomably light on the scales. It's easily the most featherweight shoe I’ve ever held, almost 150 grams lighter than the Nike Alphafly 3 ($305).
Every 100 grams cut from a shoe reduces the aerobic demand of running by 1 percent. That’s potentially important for record hunters (more on that in a mo).
But those gains come with a heavy price tag. At $500, the Pro Evo 3 is about as high-ticket as running shoes get. Adidas points out that this shoe is built to help elite runners break records—they company isn’t targeting most runners in the marathon mass starts. This is for Sawe, or Tigst Assefa, who also set a new women’s world record at the London Marathon by running 2:15.41.
“From the start, when we introduced the first model, it was always built for our key elite athletes and the runners that are really running superfast marathons,” says Charlotte Heidmann, the Adizero category director at Adidas. “We targeted the group [running] below three hours, just to make sure that the runner really feels the feeling they're supposed to feel underfoot.”
Since launching in September 2023, the Adizero Pro Evo franchise has helped Adidas athletes break multiple world records and win more than 30 key road races. Runners further back in the field may now be wondering if it’s worth lacing it up to gain margins while chasing our own speedy marathon ambitions.
“Anyone can wear the shoe,” says Heidmann. “So, of course, you never know who picks [it] up, but we're really always keeping this athlete pinnacle performance product in mind … There's always a difference between building a shoe like the Adios Pro Evo 3 that can really break the next record, and then building a race shoe for the mass range of the consumer, which is then more targeted toward achieving the personal best.”
I guarantee you that ambitious amateur runners like myself will find all that performance potential hard to resist.
Fast Fixes
Photograph: Kieran AlgerLast year, the previous-generation Adios Pro Evo 2 helped me to a 1:20 half marathon PR. But it had some serious shortcomings, which is hard to ignore for a shoe this expensive. The lack of grip meant anytime you hit wet asphalt it felt like your life was on the line, more so than any personal run records. Meanwhile, the energy from the midsole-plate combination didn’t really feel $250 dollars ahead of rivals like the Asics Metaspeed Edge Tokyo ($270) or the Puma Nitro Elite Fast-R3. So what’s changed, and does it work?
Thankfully, the outsole has been upgraded. The Pro Evo 3 now deploys strategically placed Continental rubber in the forefoot and the heels, replacing the liquid rubber coating outsole that was a slick nightmare in wet conditions. For my test, I only ran indoors, but prior experience of Continental grip suggests that this is now a shoe you can use to race year-round.
The midsole also features big changes, starting with a next-gen Lightstrike Pro Evo foam that Adidas says weighs around 50 percent less than the Pro Evo foam in the last shoe. Lighter isn’t always better. If reduced weight compromises the shoe's cushioning and energy return, that can increase the energy cost of running. But according to Adidas, the new Lightstrike Pro Evo foam is its lightest and its most responsive to date, and it feels that way on the foot.
Sandwiched in the middle of two layers of that highly compressive, much softer, springier super foam is what Adidas calls “a carbon-fiber-infused energy rim”—a ring that runs around the outer edge of the midsole.
“The energy rim is definitely one of the key components,” says Heidmann. "We received some feedback from the athletes that they really want more comfort in the forefoot. So the science team and innovation team came back with the rim, where you're really stepping onto the foam, and you get stability from the outside. It's a stiffening element that has an even more propulsive feeling and also adds the stability and comfort.”
It works. I clocked close to four miles in the Adios Pro Evo 3. The aim was to shoot for a 5-km PB to really test the shoes’s all-out creds. But I had to run on a curved Woodway treadmill with no heads-up display and no idea of my pace or accurate distance, only a Garmin Forerunner 970 calibrated to a regular treadmill for guidance. So I did a warmup mile, followed by 25 minutes of all-out.
Photograph: Kieran AlgerThe first thing you notice is how light and comfortable it is. For a carbon race shoe, it fits well and immediately feels like it belongs on your foot. The midsole is markedly softer than the Pro Evo 2 with a fun, springy, bouncy energy to it. The curved rocker is the same as the last-gen Pro Evo 2. It rolls you quickly onto your forefoot, driving a fast foot turnover and a lively toe off. It’s all very smooth, light, and propulsive.
The higher levels of softness really come through. Fans of a stiffer, snappier ride (like you’d get from an Asics Metaspeed Edge or Sky Tokyo) might not love that sensation. But there’s a really good balance of cushioning and protection under the forefoot, with all the fun and punchy response you expect from a top-tier carbon race shoe.
I found it worked best, as Heidmann describes, when I was moving at faster paces with locked-in form, landing mid-to-forefoot with real intent. But I was surprised by how accommodating it felt at slower paces, too. The energy rim lets you have some control over that high-compression midsole foam. It’s hard to say after I ran for just 40 minutes on a treadmill, but for such a lightweight shoe, my instinct says the Pro Evo 3 should be surprisingly protective even if the wheels were to come off at mile 20 of a marathon.
Up top, the Pro Evo 3 has a highly minimal, stripped-back engineered mesh upper, with the thinnest tongue I’ve ever seen and scarcely-padded heel collar and minimal heel counter. Those uppers take some inspiration from kite-surfing materials and are noticeably more pliable than the uppers of the Pro Evo 2. That creates a feeling that’s roomy, airy, and flexible, with good freedom for your toes to flex. These shoes disappear on your foot for a really great barely-there feel. I only got to run in straight lines, but I’m not convinced they’ll offer enough support around tight turns.
Should You Start Saving?
When Adidas first launched the Pro Evo race shoes, I was one of the first to do a double take at the price tag. It’s a lot of money for any shoe. Unlike previous versions of the Pro Evo that didn’t wow me, the Pro Evo 3 feels genuinely pace-setting. However, I’m still not convinced that 99 percent of runners really need a $500 shoe.
Take it from this 66-time marathon finisher: PRs can tumble just as easily in much more affordable shoes. They don’t even have to be carbon-plate shoes. It’s not just the size of the investment that should give most of us pause. The Adidas Pro Evo 3 is built with a specific runner in mind: fast forefoot strikers who can run light and hold their form. That’s definitely not everyone.
If you fit that profile and you’ve got the pace and disposable dollars, go for it. The Adizero Adios Pro Evo 3 feels like the real deal. That’s if you can get ahold of a pair. Only a few are going on sale in a very limited first run, with more landing in the fall.
$500 at Adidas
