I was the first journalist in the world to try Adidas’ craziest shoes yet
“Stay behind,” warned the engineer. “Do not be alarmed when I open it.”
Green next to the pressure cartridge, it slowly twisted the valve. A long hiss filled the room, sharp and insistent. The air was held.
Fifty seconds have passed and anticipation has mounted. Finally, the cartridge remained silent – corresponding to the atmosphere in the room.
Clemens Dyckmans, director of athlete solutions, attenuated the lid and I jammed nervously that we had the impression of discovering a uranium radioactive bottle.
Gently lowering his hand into the container, Dyckmans caution the content.
It was not a volatile chemical, but something just as explosive: a pair of Adidas’ most radical running shoes.
The prototypes so finely adjusted that they had to be stored under pressure until the time of use. Shoes built for a single daring goal – to help five athletes beat the world record of 100 km and to travel the distance in less than six hours.
Secret project to go to the Subsix
The barrier of the sub-six was held intact until August 26, when the South African runner Sibusiso Kubheka entered history by breaking it in 5:59:20.
Taking up on the emblematic Nardò Ring racing track in southern Italy, Kubheka razed six minutes and 15 seconds from the previous fastest time of 06:05:35.
The five competition athletes wore Adizero Evo Prime X shoes specially designed and custom shoes, designed with precision and tailor -made to each athlete. These are some of the best most advanced racing shoes ever made.
The American Charlie Lawrence and the Lithuanian Aleksandr Sorokin both beat the best current current time (run by Sorokin himself), respectively at 6:03:47 and 6:04:10.
For six months, Adidas’s innovation team worked on the secret project, maximizing marginal gains in any way possible. In the center of hunting 100 was the ultra -loaded shoe.
Each component – the foam, the traction, the superior, the height of the battery, even the rigidity integrated into the sole – has been redesigned. Each prototype was tailor -made of his runner.
And I was the only journalist in the world to have been able to try the craziest shoe in Adidas to date.
Fortunately for me, the Japanese athlete Jo Fukada had a spare pair – which was just the right size.
“After running with these shoes, I admitted that, okay, I can move on to 100 km,” said Fukada, speaking via a translator. “Usually, after 30 km, my body is tired, but after wearing them, the next day, I was full of energy, no fatigue, nothing. That’s why I was amazed at the shoes.”
Aleksandr Sorokin, the official world record holder (the Adidas event took place outside the global rules of athletics) was just as pamper on shoes.
“It gives a boost at your own pace,” he said. “Your race becomes very economical. Shoes have the impression of doing 50% of the work. ”
Run with the fastest in the world
I admit, I was terrified. The plan was simple: run a few loops around the block with Aleksandr Sorokin. The official 100k world record holder – something I am, well, not.
To have a comparison point, I started the first 800m loop in my Saucony Ride 18 Road shoes. We ran at my speed of Parkrun 5K, Sorokin extremely relaxed but still crushing an incredibly fast pace, despite the fact that it clearly runs at its easy pace. I could almost follow, but I did not discuss. Breathable, the legs that were turning, focusing on the fact of not thinking.
Then came the moment. I exchanged in the Adidas prototypes directly from the cartridge. Immediately, they felt strange, almost unstable, as if I was balanced on stilts. They were incredibly light, weighing only 136 g, and as soon as I started to run, I understood why the revealing of the cartridge had felt so theatrical.
It was like running on Pogo sticks. Boing, Boing, Boing. Each step bounces. My pace has accelerated without my trying, and what had felt hard work a minute before suddenly an easy jog. I did not float exactly, but I was definitely propelled.
The additional height – slope around 50 mm in the heel – made me limit slightly and pushed me to over -check. But the responsiveness was different from everything I had ever worn. I tested a lot of carbon -plated shoes and I’m a fan of the Hoka rocket, but it was the next level. Fast, inflatable and almost caricatural in the spring.
For 800 m, I could run alongside the holder of multi-world records Aleksandr Sorokin at ease.
What is inside the shoe?
This is the question that everyone poses now, and Adidas is not ready to disclose everything – for the moment. There is a stiffness element hidden in the intermediate sole, attached individually for each runner, but the company does not confirm if it is a carbon plaque or something else.
What we know is that shoes are made from a new grade of LightStrike Pro Evo foam, up to 35% lighter and more bouncing than anything on the market. Each athlete had its battery height, its foam density and its personalized flexion rigidity in their biomechanics. Pressure cards for their foot strikes were used to place the continental rubber only where they needed handle, shaving the unnecessary grams.
The craziest detail may be the ultra-loading process. Adidas engineers have discovered that if you store shoes in a pressure ship for up to five days, the properties of the foam change. The process requires air in foam bubbles, changing its mechanical properties and making it more alive under the foot.
“It’s a bit of a magic thing, almost,” said Dyckmans. “You put a pair of shoes, you wait a few days and another pair comes out.”
This is why the moment of the cartridge is so striking. The shoes are literally supercharged before touching the track. And it is a process that can be repeated – to continue to instill a new life in the shoe.
However, Adidas stressed that the prototypes I tried will not appear on the shelves in the exact form of the athletes used.
A very limited version is scheduled for November, but the version from the market will use a standard configuration rather than the individual personalization given to athletes. Meanwhile, the main innovations – lighter foam, stiff adjusted and traction prospects – will feed the wider road line of Adidas.
Adidas has also suggested this ultra -load – the cartridge process that changes the properties of foam – will not remain locked in the laboratory. The company has described it as a major opportunity for the future, although it has not yet decided how runners will experience it. It remains to be seen that this means that store in store, domestic kits or special retail programs are to be seen.
Beyond shoes
The record attempt was more than just shoes.
The five athletes, including the Ethiopian Ketema Negasa, also used pre-referral and air conditioning cooling systems, starting their warm-up with formula 1 style cooling vests and insulating jackets, then exchanging necks cool throughout the race to control the central body temperature.
As for clothing, the singlet Clima 3D has improved the air flow and the evaporation of sweat, while short techfit tights used strokes of stabilization to stabilize hips and reduce fatigue.
The clima 3D Singlet and Techfit clima tights are planned to be released in 2026, and the two were a great success with athletes.
For me, however, the sustainable image of the entire innovation project is always that of air, the lid of unscrewing cartridge, shoes revealed as a dangerous experience.
I will always remember the day when I laced the wildest shoes in the world – and, for a tour, I followed the pace of the best.
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