In September, Adidas launched their latest super shoe, the Adidas Adizero Adios Pro Evo 1. It’s the lightest super shoe the brand has ever designed — 40% lighter than the brand’s Adizero Adios Pro shoes (which regularly end up on marathon podiums), and 33% lighter than the ubiquitous Nike Vaporfly.
Does lighter equal faster? Adidas was betting on it, and on Sept. 24, Ethiopia’s Tigst Assefa wore the Evo 1s to run 2:11:53 at the Berlin Marathon — 2 minutes and 11 seconds faster than the previous female marathon world record of 2:14:04, set in Chicago in 2019.
Of course, shoe technology isn’t everything — a world record like that takes perfect pacing, peak fitness, a fast course and ideal weather conditions (other athletes wore these shoes in Berlin and didn’t break a record). But shoe tech is certainly something, and less shoe weight has been linked to faster performances: Runners ran 1% faster for each 100 grams removed from a shoe in a 2016 study by the University of Colorado Boulder.
Do those benefits translate to regular runners, though? I put the Adidas Adizero Adios Pro Evo 1 to the test at the 2023 St. George Marathon, and ended up running my fastest marathon ever. Here’s what I thought about the shoes.
This ridiculously lightweight running shoe is 33% lighter than Nike’s Vaporfly. At 138 grams, it weighs as much as a single D battery, but we also loved its bouncier foam underfoot, which provides great energy return while running long distances.
What we liked about them
Weight
When I took these out of the box, I literally laughed out loud at how lightweight they were. The Evo 1s weigh 138 grams. You know what weighs 138 grams? A nectarine. A checkbook. A single D battery. Adidas shed a ton of weight from the outsole, ditching their standard Continental rubber for a new, proprietary outsole technology. The company also used a new manufacturing process to reduce the weight of their Lightstrike Pro Foam (the same you’ll find in previous Adios Pros). And the upper is made from paper thin mesh to round out the overall barely-there feel. Despite the slimmed down silhouette, there are still 39 millimeters of foam under the heel and 33 under the forefoot, which makes it feel as cushioned as many other super shoes on the market.
The feeling of propulsion
All that cushioning underfoot is a new version of the brand’s Lightstrike Pro foam, which you’ll also find in shoes like the Prime X 2 Strung, Boston 12 and Takumi Sen. This time, they used a non-compression molding process instead of a compression-based one, which results in a bouncier foam; Adidas says this provides greater energy return (which can prevent muscle fatigue). There’s also a steep forefoot rocker to trigger forward momentum and improve running economy, which would mean you can maintain a harder effort for longer. We couldn’t lab test those claims, but I can say that during a track workout to break these in, faster paces felt effortless and my heart rate stayed very low for the amount of work I was putting in.
What we didn’t like about them
Traction
Saying I didn’t like this isn’t quite true. I tried these on asphalt, cement and a rubber track; made a point of running through wet patches on the sidewalk from sprinklers; and probably poured 2 gallons of water on myself to beat the heat during the St. George Marathon — and didn’t have any major issues with traction. But since there’s no typical tread (the outsole is totally smooth, like a strip of packing tape was laid over it), I wouldn’t recommend these on slippery surfaces — including in active rain or standing water — and would encourage anyone to watch their footing on painted lines on the road or while running through water stations in a race. Whether I wore these in another race would depend on the forecasted weather conditions.
Price and shelf life
The Evo 1 rings up at $500, which is the most expensive price tag I’ve seen on a super shoe. On top of that, Adidas says they’re only good for one race and “a familiarization period.”
(There’s no guidance on what qualifies as a familiarization period; I did one 6.5-mile track workout and a 2-mile shakeout run the day before the race, and I think I could get at least a few more runs, if not races, out of these). Not only is that price out of reach for a lot of people, but it encourages the idea of a single-use shoe in a time when shoe companies — including Adidas — are finally starting to embrace more sustainable practices. Sure, Adidas only made 521 pairs for the initial launch, but another drop is coming in November (a total of 1,000 will be released), and I’d rather normalize shoes that deliver incredible benefits over the course of hundreds of miles, not a single race. Hopefully, as Adidas perfects this new tech, they’ll be able to incorporate it into longer-lasting shoes.
How they compare
On the insert tucked into the shoe box, Adidas says they “recommend this racing shoe only for the most experienced and advanced runners, ideally with a marathon time of under 3:00 to 3:30 hours.” The average marathon finish time, according to data from RunRepeat, is 4:32:49 — which means these shoes will benefit a very small percentage of runners. And at $500, they’re significantly more expensive than other speedy racing shoes: The Nike Alphafly 2 is $285, the Saucony Endorphin Elite is $275, the Nike Vaporfly 3 is $270, the Asics Metaspeed Sky+ and the Hoka Rocket X 2 are $250, and the New Balance FuelCell SuperComp Elite v3 is $230. If you’re willing to spend that kind of money, which shoe is best will come down to what feels best on your feet — but it’s a big investment to make in a piece of gear that doesn’t guarantee you a faster time.
Bottom line
Do I think these shoes are solely responsible for the fact that I just ran my fastest time in the marathon? Absolutely not. I also worked with a coach and a nutritionist this training cycle, and attribute a lot of my performance to the mental training I prioritized. But they didn’t hurt my feet or distract me in any way, and that’s the best you could hope for from any racing shoe, no matter what kind of technology is packed inside.