Adidas puts the 97-gram Adios Pro Evo 3, the sub-two shoe, on general sale at about $500
The shoe Sawe, Kejelcha and Assefa wore in London has a 39 mm stack, a carbon rim instead of a full plate, and a claimed 1.6 per cent economy gain.
Adidas announced the global launch of the Adizero Adios Pro Evo 3 on Thursday, four days after Sabastian Sawe ran 1:59:30, Yomif Kejelcha 1:59:41 and Tigst Assefa 2:15:41 in it at the London Marathon. It had been sold only in a small limited drop before the race. The price is about $500. Gear Patrol reports a wider release timed for the autumn marathon season, starting with Berlin on September 27.
The numbers: 97 g in a US men's 9, which Adidas calls the lightest legal racing shoe ever made and about 30 per cent lighter than the previous Evo. Stack height is 39 mm at the heel and 33 mm at the forefoot, a 6 mm drop. The midsole is a reworked Lightstrike Pro foam made by gas injection, in which nitrogen expands the cells of the material; Adidas says the foam alone is half the weight of the previous version. In place of a full carbon plate there is a thin carbon rim around the perimeter of the shoe, which Adidas calls EnergyRim and credits, with the foam, outsole and upper, for a 1.6 per cent improvement in running economy. The outsole is still Continental rubber. The upper is close to transparent.
The first Adios Pro Evo came out in 2023. Adidas counts three world records and more than 30 major wins for the line since April 2025, and says Sawe gave input during development.
A shoe that weighs less than a bar of soap and costs five hundred dollars is a racing tool, not a trainer, and it is built to last about as long as a race. Whether that is worth it depends on how many of those you have.
Sources: Footwear Magazine; Gear Patrol.
