The $500 adidas Adizero Adios Pro Evo 1 Is The Brand’s Lightest Race Shoe Yet

Updated September 18th, 2023: The adidas Adios Pro Evo 1 is set to release on adidas.com on September 26th, 2023 for $500.

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The adidas Adizero line launched in 2008, helping Haile Gebrselassie become the first athlete break the 2 hour and 4 minute mark in the marathon. Over the last 15 years, Adizero has grown from a single product to a family of products, which now includes the Adios Pro Evo 1.

The adidas Running team had one single goal in mind when developing the Adios Pro Evo 1: weight reduction. According to the Three Stripes, its latest Adizero offering weighs a mind-boggling 138 grams (4.8 ounces) in a Men’s size 9. By comparison, the Adios Pro 3 – its current marquee raceday shoe – weighs 218g (7.7 oz). Both silhouettes are lighter and more cushioned than the shoe Gebrselassie set his record with in 2008, but the Adios Pro Evo 1 sets a new benchmark for the brand, and the industry.

“The ADIZERO Adios Pro Evo 1 is our own ‘Impossible is Nothing’ story,” said Patrick Nava, VP Product, Running & Credibility Sports at adidas in an official press release shared with Urlfreeze News. “We set ourselves the goal to create a racing shoe that is packed with the technology ambitious runners have come to love in the ADIZERO franchise, but at a weight we’ve never seen before at adidas. To do this, we explored every element of a racing shoe, balancing what we could remove or change to reduce the weight.”

The mesh upper constitutes a big part of the Adios Pro Evo 1’s weight-loss story, although athlete feedback stressed the importance of structure around the heel. The shoe also abandons the sockliner to shed weight, allowing runners to plant their feet directly onto a strobel board, bringing them closer to the Lightstrike Pro foam. adidas hasn’t specified the properties of its top-notch performance cushioning, but it’s shared that the Lightstrike Pro compound in the latest Adizero offering is “crafted in a non-compression molding process,” reducing weight and increasing “greater energy return” (reducing energy loss) for runners. Unlike what’s happened with standard Lightstrike, the Three Stripes hasn’t decided to denote its “revolutionized” Lightstrike Pro foam as “2.0,” perhaps as it would make its current products with simple “Lightstrike Pro” seem outdated. Additionally, the outsole has been reworked to lower weight without sacrificing traction. No Continental branding is found on the rubber solution, however, suggesting adidas has reverted to its own tooling for the Adios Pro Evo 1’s liquid rubber grip.

While rooted in findings from the podium-dominating Adios Pro 3, the Adizero franchise’s lightest product yet features a first-of-its kind forefoot rocker. The adidas Running team has tested the innovation in the lab and with elite athletes the likes of Benson Kipruto, Peres Chepchirchir Ngeno, and Amanal Petros. Bringing a rocker design closer to the mid-foot than other running shoes triggers forward momentum that improves running economy – specifically for raceday. As the Adios Pro Evo 1 is deemed “race legal” by World Athletics, some of the Three Stripes’ fastest runners will lace up the shoe at the Berlin, Chicago, and New York marathons this fall.

Only 521 numbered pairs of the adidas Adizero Adios Pro Evo 1 have been produced for the sneaker’s launch. The shoe has only been made available to a select roster of elite runners, with a limited amount selling via adidas.com this morning. According to the brand, a second batch will be released in November with the price tag of $500, double that of the industry standard for a marathon racing shoe.

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