adidas Adizero

Adizero

In 2004, adidas asked innovative designer Toshiaki Omori to craft an advanced running shoe. Four years later, he had produced the lightning-fast Adizero Adios, signalling a new era of athletic footwear.

The Adios contained cutting-edge technology which allowed Ethiopian runner Haile Gebrselassie to set an astounding world record at the 2008 Berlin Marathon. Adidas Adizero running shoes went on to dominate distance running, with subsequent versions like the lightweight, responsive Adios Boost 2 delivering three world records between 2011 and 2014. However, in 2016, rival brand Nike changed the game with its groundbreaking carbon-fibre-plated running shoes.

Adidas had stopped producing its Pro Plate technology in the late noughties due to mixed results, but Nike managed to use the carbon-fibre plate to produce unprecedented levels of energy return in the Vaporfly. In response, adidas designed the Adizero Sub2, but despite having improved Boost Light foam, it still lost out to the Vaporfly, with Nike’s Eliud Kipchoge easily beating adidas athletes Wilson Kipsang and Guye Adola at the 2017 Berlin Marathon. One year later, Kipchoge set a new world record ahead of Amos Kipruto, who was wearing the Adizero Adios 3, and Kipsang in the Sub2.

Seeking inspiration, adidas called on Toshiaki Omori. He designed the adidas Adizero Pro, giving it high-tech features, including a Carbitex carbon plate that was to rival Nike’s super shoes. It still fell short, so the brand took a different approach, investing dozens of staff and elite athletes into a new project. Two years later, they produced the first EnergyRods: carbon-infused midsole bars that matched the metatarsal bones of the foot.

EnergyRods reinvigorated the Adizero range, first appearing in 2020’s Adios Pro, which was worn by Peres Jepchirchir and Kibiwott Kandie as both set world records in the half-marathon. In 2021, adidas Adizero shoes broke seven more world records, some with the Adios Pro 2, whose re-engineered midsole made it even quicker than its predecessor. In June 2022, adidas added EnergyRods 2.0 to the Adios Pro 3, the highly responsive shoe helping adidas athletes win 50% of all the World Marathon Majors that year.

In 2023, adidas released its fastest Adizero model yet: the Adios Pro Evo 1. It was exceptionally lightweight, and at the Berlin Marathon, Tigst Assefa wore it to run almost six minutes faster than second place in a new world-record time. More success came in 2024, with adidas Adizero athletes taking men’s and women’s golds at the London Marathon, before Tamirat Tola used the Pro Evo 1 to break the Olympic record in Paris. In the women’s race, Assefa took silver, finishing ahead of the previous championship record but behind Alphafly-wearer Sifan Hassan.

Shortly after, adidas innovated again with the Pro 4, whose improved upper and Lighttraxion outsole gave it a better fit and more reliable traction, and the EVO SL – an accessible training shoe that advanced the brand’s aim to democratise running.

From Gebrselassie’s record-breaking exploits to Tola’s Olympic triumph, the adidas Adizero line has had a huge impact on distance running. Today, its groundbreaking silhouettes continue to drive technological progress in an unprecedented era of speed and power.