Our Verdict
Adidas has made significant changes to the Adizero Adios Pro 3 to position it as a long-distance racing shoe, with a more comfortable and stable ride. It’s not as speedy over short distances as the Adios Pro 2 but it’s still a top-tier option for marathoners in particular.
For
- Increased stability
- Springy, comfortable ride
- Good for training and racing
Against
- More expensive and heavier than Pro 2
- Less suited to short races
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The Adidas Adizero Adios Pro 2 was one of the best carbon plate running shoes, providing a comfortable, springy ride that impressed over longer distances in particular. It was also good value for a carbon super-shoe at $220 in the US and £180 in the UK. Not cheap, but cheaper than many rivals.
Adidas clearly decided it was selling itself short with that price, because it has jumped to $250/£225 with the Adios Pro 3, though that is in line with most super-shoes like the Nike Vaporfly NEXT% 2 and Asics Metaspeed Sky+.
The price rise is one of a number of big changes to the shoe, which is now more stable and clearly positioned as a marathon racing shoe, leaving room for the Adidas Takumi Sen 8 to be the short-distance speedster in the company’s range.
Adidas Adizero Adios Pro 3: Price And Availability
The Adios Pro 3 is available now and costs $250/£225. The Adios Pro 2 is also still widely available.
Design And Fit
The Adios Pro 3 is a distinctive shoe, with its sharp toe rocker and jagged midsole catching the eye. The lightweight textile upper comes to more of a point in the toe box than on the Adios Pro 2 and I found that the fit was spot-on for me going half a size up in the Pro 3, whereas I wore my normal size in the Pro 2.
Adidas has reduced the heel-to-toe offset on the Pro 3 by increasing the stack in the forefoot. It has a 6.5mm drop with a stack height of 39.5mm at the heel and 33mm at the forefoot, whereas the Pro 2 had a 10mm drop with a 39.5mm stack height at the heel.
The carbon tech in the midsole has also changed. In the Pro 2 there was a small carbon plate at the heel and then five carbon EnergyRods under the forefoot. In the Pro 3 the plate and rods have been joined together, making the shoe feel stiffer.
Sandwiching the carbon plate and rods are two layers of Adidas’s Lightstrike Pro foam. As with the Pro 2, the Pro 3 has several midsole cutouts to reduce weight, but it has a wider base to increase the stability of the ride considerably, something that is also improved by having the plate and rods connected.
As a result of the extra foam in the midsole, the Pro 3 weighs more than the Pro 2. It’s 8.7oz/247g in a UK 9.5, which is the same weight as a UK size 10 in the Pro 2. The Pro 3 is one of the heavier carbon racers, weighing about the same as the Nike Alphafly NEXT% 2 but more than the Vaporfly 2, Asics Metaspeed Sky+ and Edge+.
The outsole of the shoe has a patch of Continental rubber at the front to ensure good grip for your toe-off, and then a thinner rubber is used to cover the rest of the forefoot and for two strips at the heel.
How I Tested This Shoe
I have run more than 60km in the Adios Pro 3, including two hard workouts and a 15-mile (24km) run at 6min/mile pace. I have also tested the Adios Pro 1 and 2 extensively, running 180km in the Pro 2, including several races.
Running Performance
I gave the Adios Pro 3 a baptism of fire by using it for a testing workout straight out of the box, running 5K at 3min 35sec/km pace followed by a parkrun and then another 5K at 3min 35sec/km.
After that first run I had serious doubts about the changes Adidas had made. It felt much bigger on the foot than the Pro 2, and also stiffer and less comfortable. I ran the parkrun in 16min 24sec, but pushing the shoe to the pace felt unnatural and it also didn’t feel great running the 5Ks at around marathon pace.
I was similarly unimpressed after one run in the Pro 2, however, and while I still have reservations about the Pro 3 the ride notably improved in the runs that followed. I feel that the EnergyRods and foam need a run to break in a little and soften up.
My second run in the shoe was 15 miles at a steady pace and it felt far more natural at that pace and over long distances. The ride was smooth and I felt more bounce and energy return from the midsole than in the Pro 2.
The lower drop makes for a smoother transition and it’s more comfortable under the forefoot. Towards the end of long, hard runs in the Pro 2 I sometimes felt forefoot pain, but I had no such discomfort with the Pro 3.
I also used the shoe for three reps of a 5 x 2-mile workout, running the reps at 5min 30sec to 5min 40sec/mile pace. I did the first two reps in the New Balance FuelCell SuperComp Pacer, which is a lightweight, low-stack carbon shoe, and the extra bounce I felt in the Adios Pro 3 made it feel just as speedy as the Pacer despite weighing 50g more.
However, the generally larger size of the shoe positions it as a half-marathon and marathon racing shoe in my mind, whereas the Pro 2 is more versatile and a shoe I enjoyed tackling short workouts and races in more.
The Pro 3 is an improvement over long distances because of the reconfigured midsole and extra stability, but if you’re not focused on marathon training the Pro 2 may be a better pick. The lightweight Adidas Takumi Sen 8 is also a better racing shoe for 5Ks and 10Ks, I’d say.
Is The Adidas Adios Pro 3 Worth It?
The price rise hurts the Adios Pro 3. The Pro 2 was not far off the performance level of shoes like the Vaporfly 2 and Asics Metaspeed Sky+ and being cheaper made it an attractive option.
While I rate the Pro 3 as a marathon racing option on a par with the Vaporfly and Metaspeed Sky+ it’s less impressive over short distances, and the Alphafly 2 would be my preference for marathon because it has a more explosive ride, though it is expensive.
The Pro 3 makes sense in Adidas’s range because the Takumi Sen 8 is such a good short-distance racing option to pair with it. However, you can get one racing shoe from other brands that does it all, or opt for one of the best marathon running shoes going in the Alphafly 2.
That said, the changes Adidas has made for the Pro 3 will appeal to many people, since it is more comfortable and stable, and it means the shoe can be used for more training alongside your races.
