adidas Adizero Adios Pro Evo 3: The Sub-2 Supershoe That Just Rewrote the Record Books

On Sunday morning in London, a $500 racing shoe weighing less than a deck of cards helped erase one of the most stubborn barriers in sports. The adidas Adizero Adios Pro Evo 3 made its competitive debut at the 2026 London Marathon — and by the time the elite waves had cleared Tower Bridge, it had been on the feet of three world records, including the first official sub-two-hour men’s marathon in history.

If you care about footwear, performance, or the future of where sneaker tech is heading, this is the shoe of the year. Maybe of the decade.

A Sub-2 Marathon, Made Official

For nearly a decade, the running world has chased the sub-two-hour marathon. Eliud Kipchoge famously crossed under it in 2019 at the INEOS 1:59 Challenge, but that ran outside official competition rules and never entered the record books. The previous official world record belonged to the late Kelvin Kiptum at 2:00:35, set at the 2023 Chicago Marathon.

That all changed on April 26, 2026.

Kenya’s Sabastian Sawe crossed the London finish line in 1:59:30 — the first runner ever to officially break two hours in a sanctioned marathon. He held up a marker-streaked Evo 3 with “WR” and “sub-2” scrawled across it.

He wasn’t alone. Ethiopia’s Yomif Kejelcha — best known for his track exploits, including a former indoor mile world record — finished second in his marathon debut at 1:59:41, also under the barrier. And in the women’s race, Tigst Assefaran 2:15:41 to set a new women-only world marathon record.

Three runners. One shoe. One morning. History, made in the same shoe. Twice. In one morning.

What Makes the Evo 3 Special

The Adizero Adios Pro Evo 3 is the lightest race-legal shoe adidas has ever built — and arguably the most ambitious. A men’s US 9 weighs roughly 97 grams (about 3.4 ounces), making it adidas’ first sub-100-gram racer and lighter than virtually every supershoe that came before it.

The headline numbers, courtesy of adidas:

• 30% lighter than the Evo 2
• 1.6% improvement in running economy over the Evo 2
• 11% greater forefoot energy return
• 39mm stack with a redesigned carbon system called ENERGYRIM, replacing the EnergyRods used in previous generations
• A new generation of Lightstrike Pro Evo foam, said to be roughly 50% lighter than earlier versions
• Continental rubber outsole, retooled to weigh almost nothing on its own
• An almost-translucent upper inspired by kitesurfing sails

According to adidas, the design went through more than a dozen prototypes, with testing spanning the brand’s labs in Herzogenaurach and high-altitude camps in Kenya and Ethiopia. The tolerances reportedly came down to nanograms.

A Quick History of the Pro Evo Line

The Pro Evo franchise didn’t come out of nowhere. It’s the latest move in a long-running supershoe arms race that began with the Nike Vaporfly back in 2017.

• Adizero Adios Pro Evo 1 (2023) — Debuted at the Berlin Marathon, where Tigst Assefa shocked the world by running 2:11:53 to set a women’s world record. The Evo 1 weighed 138 grams, retailed at $500, and was famously released in just 521 pairs worldwide. Resale prices reportedly hit £2,500.
• Adizero Adios Pro Evo 2 (2025) — Sawe and Assefa wore the Evo 2 to win the 2025 London Marathon. adidas added more foam around the midsole engine for additional energy return.
• Adizero Adios Pro Evo 3 (2026) — The sub-2 shoe. Lighter, faster, and the most technically ambitious shoe in the line yet.

Since the franchise launched in September 2023, adidas athletes have used the Pro Evo platform to rack up multiple world records, dozens of major road race wins, World Marathon Major victories, and even an Olympic record on the Paris course.

Release Date & Where to Buy

The Evo 3 went live in extremely limited quantities on April 27, 2026 via the adidas Confirmed app and select specialty retailers, two days before Sawe’s record run. A wider release is planned for the fall 2026 marathon season, lining up with the Berlin Marathon on September 27.

• Retail price: $500 USD / €500
• Where to buy: adidas Confirmed app, adidas.com, and select specialty running retailers
• Availability: Limited at launch; expect heavier stock in the fall

If you weren’t quick on the initial drop, the resale market has predictably exploded. Reports out of StockX show asking prices climbing into the thousands of dollars, with larger sizes listed as high as $5,500 and an average ask in the mid-$2,000s in the days following the London Marathon. Real sales have ranged from a few hundred dollars all the way up past $1,800. If history is any guide — the Evo 1 hit £2,500 on resale almost immediately — pairs in popular sizes won’t be cheap or easy to find anytime soon.

What This Means for Running Shoes

The Evo 3 isn’t just a fast shoe. It’s a statement. For years, Nike held the symbolic crown of the sub-2 attempt thanks to Kipchoge and the Vaporfly platform. With Sawe’s official world record, adidas has very publicly flipped that narrative — and the Three Stripes did it with a 97-gram piece of carbon, foam, and translucent mesh that looked closer to a slipper than a racing shoe.

For everyday runners, the Evo 3 is mostly aspirational — the price tag, durability profile, and limited availability put it out of reach for most. But the technology pioneered here will trickle down. Expect the next round of adidas Boston, Adios Pro, and even non-elite trainers to borrow ideas from this shoe. The supershoe era is officially in its next chapter.

Stay Ahead of Every Drop

Running shoe releases are moving faster than ever, and the gap between a launch and a sellout is shrinking by the week. If you want to be first in line for the next Pro Evo, the next Vaporfly, or whatever Puma, Asics, On, and Saucony cook up to fight back — head over to RunnerDrops.com.

RunnerDrops is the running shoe release calendar built for sneakerheads and runners alike. Get release dates, retail links, and SMS alerts the moment new performance shoes drop, so the next sub-2 supershoe doesn’t slip past you while you’re sleeping.

Lace up. Stay ready. And keep it locked to Nice Kicks for everything happening on the road, the track, and the streets.