adidas Adizero Adios Pro Evo 3 Review: Under 100 Grams

The adidas Adizero Adios Pro Evo 3 sits above the Adizero Adios Pro 4 as the halo product of the range, not as its replacement. Availability has been the defining feature: the April drop sold through adidas directly and a handful of specialist stores across the UK and Europe, with a broader autumn release timed to the European marathon calendar. It comes in one width, it is priced at the very top of the super-shoe market, and adidas is explicit that this is a shoe for race day rather than for training volume. The brand claims three years of development behind it, with work split between the labs in Herzogenaurach and altitude camps in Kenya and Ethiopia. Treat it as a piece of racing equipment with a short life, not a shoe you rotate through winter.

The published figures alongside independent lab measurement:

• Weight: roughly 98 g brand-stated, 99 g on RunRepeat's scale — around 29 to 30 per cent lighter than the Adizero Adios Pro Evo 2
• Midsole: next-generation Lightstrike Pro Evo, adidas's lightest foam, described as close to half the density of the previous Evo compound
• Stack (brand): 39 mm heel, 36 mm forefoot; lab measurement returned 38.1 mm and 32.2 mm at World Athletics reading points
• Drop: 3 mm stated, 5.9 mm measured in the lab
• Structure: a redesigned carbon element adidas calls ENERGYRIM, integrated into the midsole rather than sitting as a flat plate
• Outsole: Continental rubber in the forefoot, replacing the sprayed liquid rubber of the Evo 2
• Upper: ultralight woven shell adidas says was inspired by kitesurfing sails
• Fit: narrow, tapered toebox; reviewers report it running slightly small
• Intended use: half marathon and marathon racing for midfoot and forefoot strikers

Three things, and they compound. The foam is the big one: the reformulated Lightstrike Pro Evo is dramatically lighter per unit of volume, which is the only reason a 39 mm stack can exist under 100 grams at all. Second, the carbon. The Evo 2 used a conventional plate approach; the adidas Adizero Adios Pro Evo 3 integrates ENERGYRIM into the midsole geometry, which lab testing found delivers plate-like stiffness without plate-like mass. Third, the outsole. Liquid rubber kept weight down on the Evo 2 but wore quickly and gripped inconsistently. Continental rubber in the forefoot is a meaningful traction upgrade for wet European autumn racing. adidas also claims a running economy improvement of a little over one and a half per cent against the previous generation.

Weight-to-cushioning, which is the whole point. Lab readings put shock absorption at 153 in the heel and 142 in the forefoot against a category average nearer 131 — genuinely protective numbers from a shoe that weighs less than a bag of crisps. Energy return measured 76.8 per cent at the heel and 80.2 per cent at the forefoot, with the better figure at the front, exactly where this shoe wants you landing. The forefoot rocker is aggressive enough that the shoe rolls you through toe-off with very little conscious effort, and reviewers consistently describe the sensation as closer to running in a sock with springs than in a conventional racer. On feel alone, nothing else in the adidas range comes near it.

Fit, durability and supply. The toebox is narrow and the whole upper is restrictive by design, because every gram of material was interrogated — several reviews flag it as the single biggest barrier, and there is no wide option to escape into. Heel strikers are effectively excluded: the geometry and the forefoot-biased foam are built around a midfoot or forefoot landing, and the shoe punishes anything else. Abrasion testing rated both the toebox and the outsole poorly, which is expected in a shoe this light but still means a short racing life measured in a handful of marathons. And then there is the money, which sits far above even flagship super-shoe territory. This is the most expensive mainstream racing shoe adidas has ever sold.

Buy the adidas Adizero Adios Pro Evo 3 if you are chasing a marathon personal best, you land midfoot or forefoot, you have a narrow-to-average foot and you can accept a shoe that is essentially a consumable. Buy it if you already loved the Evo 2 and found the liquid-rubber outsole the weak link. Skip it if you heel strike, if your forefoot is broad, or if you want a race shoe that also survives your Tuesday tempo sessions. Skip it, too, if you are a mid-pack runner — the marginal gains here are real but small, and there is a strong argument that the same money buys a race shoe plus a super trainer plus a year of race entries.

Within adidas, the Adizero Adios Pro 4 is the sensible marathon choice: carbon Energy Rods 2.0, a softer Lightstrike Pro midsole, a far more forgiving fit and a shoe you can actually buy on a normal week. The Adizero Takumi Sen 11 is the pick for 5K to half marathon, with dual Lightstrike Pro layers and a sharper rocker than its predecessor. The Adizero Evo SL takes the same non-compression-moulded foam philosophy into a plate-free super trainer that handles tempo work and long runs. Outside the brand, the ASICS Metaspeed Sky Tokyo is the closest rival on weight and feel with a more accommodating fit, while the Saucony Endorphin Elite 3 offers a softer landing for runners who find adidas racers unforgiving.