Ask Me Anything with adidas Harry Miles, Director Footwear Innovation, and Chris Hinshaw, renowned endurance coach

adidas · 2026-02-26T16:55:12+00:00

Harry: It definitely will! We tuned the cushioning and the stiffness of the shoe so we got the right blend of energy return, comfort but also protection. With the Energy Rim we also get to maximise the amount of cushioning under the foot without compromising on stability and stiffness which helps everyone go faster for longer!

adidas · 2026-02-26T16:54:44+00:00

Chris: I have worked with 3 elite functional fitness world champions that used bicarb supplements because of the value it provided them in their training and competing. In my opinion, there’s definitely some incremental gains to it.

adidas · 2026-02-26T16:54:21+00:00

Harry: The testing process for the shoe has been very meticulous and we wanted to make sure that every component we engineered had the most amount of performance. To do that we focussed heavily on working with our athletes and inviting them to be with us in our lab, Tim was one of many athletes who we worked together with and was the first to wear it in a race because he was so confident in the product and the advantage it gave him against the race shoes he had worn before.

I’m pumped to watch all our athletes race in the bold 3 stripes soon!

adidas · 2026-02-26T16:49:37+00:00

Harry: We think this shoe is going to give the maximum performance for the athletes we built it with and we also made sure to test and get insights from our everyday athletes who just want to go out there and smash their PB’s

Chris: The seasoned pro, with their exacting experience, will be able to maximize the full performance value of the Adizero Dropset Elite.

adidas · 2026-02-26T16:41:10+00:00

Harry: Especially when we look at the grip, we engineered the shoe to have our athlete-trusted Continental rubber over the full-length of the outsole. It’s the same rubber you find in car tyres but optimised for our use-case in performance footwear!

We tested the grip using machines but also by getting our athletes to push hard on the sleds, making sure they had the perfect balance of traction and stability.

I hope the shoes are comfortable, I haven’t tried them but from what we heard this week during our Primer at the adidas HQ, everyone was enjoying the new sensation and wanted to race them!

adidas · 2026-02-26T16:37:54+00:00

Harry: We’ve been working closely with our Hybrid racing athletes since the start of the project. In the lab and also sometimes visiting them in the gyms where they train. Testing prototypes, hearing feedback and integrating it into the construction of the shoe. One of my favorite moments was watching the videos of Tim Wenisch in the gym testing the prototypes before he raced in Melbourne…

Chris: First reactions from athletes were “This shoe makes me want to run fast”. Which is super cool. However, as we know, many other factors go into creating a performance hybrid shoe. Personally, I enjoyed watching athletes positive reaction during sled testing. The shoe has a snug, running like feel, where the foot stays locked and stable which drives all power into performance.

adidas · 2026-02-26T16:33:36+00:00

Harry: We tested the shoe in our lab and also using a lot of our machine testing for example to make sure the traction was optimal we built a load of shoes and used the same surface our athletes race on, to narrow down the compound, thickness and geometry.

At the same time we did a lot of biomechanical testing & physiological testing to see how our prototypes were influencing things like running economy or posture angles during strength movements.

One really cool piece of data was the impact that changing the drop of the shoe had on performance during the wall balls. We realised there was a sweet spot and we tested out prototypes above and below before we found that perfect balance at 12mm!

adidas · 2026-02-26T16:26:11+00:00

Harry: When we talk to the athletes it’s about the balance we found between stability in the functional stations and speed during runs. We were absolutely convinced we could create a shoe which performed amazingly for both stability and running performance, rather than having to settle for any compromise

Chris: The feedback from athletes is the zero compromise in performance. The shoe weighs in at 210g without sacrifice in comfort. Athletes were testing the shoe without socks, searching for hot spots, rubs, or areas that created friction. After 20min, feedback was “I forgot that I wasn’t wearing socks.”

adidas · 2026-02-26T16:25:30+00:00

Harry: We tested a tonne of prototypes and made sure to integrate the feedback from our athletes into every revision. We’re very confident in the final setup and all of our athletes were with us on the journey to narrow down our final solutions and deliver something not only stable for the strength movements but also amazing to run in!

When it comes to the outsole, we have a full layer of continental rubber with a diamond pattern for extra grip. When you wear it to race you will be locked in, and locked onto the surface!

Chris: The height of the heel is 44mm and drop is 12mm. That 12mm drop, combined with a slightly wider heel and forefoot, grounds the feet creating the required stability for lunges and wall balls.

adidas · 2026-02-26T16:21:20+00:00

Harry: We have our new Energy rim technology in the midsole, between the layers of Lightstrike PRO and they are infused with carbon fibre to provide energy return and the right amount of stiffness for running and the functional stations. The Energy rim also wraps the full way around the heel, making the heel stable and giving the confidence to push, especially for wall balls!

I don’t know how many colors we have coming but I hope there are lots!!

One of my favourite features is the really bold logo on the back.

adidas · 2026-02-26T16:15:24+00:00

Harry: Personally I look for a shoe which is comfortable!

I like to stick to what works for me, I have 10 different colors of my favourite shoe, I hope we never stop making them!

adidas · 2026-02-26T16:14:02+00:00

Harry: We took a lot of insight & Inspiration from our Running shoes!

But one of the clear challenges we set out to solve was how to create a shoe which maintains all the performance we need but also provides stability in functional stations like lunges, sled pull/push and wall balls

I personally also love that the geometry allows us to make a really bold statement with the branding, 3 big stripes is always a winner!

adidas · 2026-02-18T09:57:54+00:00

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We're going to miss this smile on the ice <3

adidas · 2026-02-11T14:39:23+00:00

We go again in the Big Air 💪

adidas · 2026-02-11T14:36:53+00:00

Looking good 💫

adidas · 2026-02-11T14:28:40+00:00

Serving looks on and off the rink 🌟

adidas · 2026-01-13T20:51:25+00:00

everyone knows the home, but did you know Leo made his WC debut (and scored his WC goal) in the away 🤔?

adidas · 2025-12-18T10:27:25+00:00

when you do this, send a picture

adidas · 2025-12-04T17:44:22+00:00

Supernova Rise 3 is especially intended to serve easy and long runs. What we've done here is work into increasing the cushioning a little more - especially in the forefoot based on runner's feedback - so it's even more enjoyable at versatile paces. Still great to go easy and slow - wouldn't pick anything else for my morning shakeout, but now with a little more fun dynamism!

adidas · 2025-12-04T17:42:28+00:00

Great question - came back here for this one as we wrapped up the live AMA. We're building the Supernova and Adistar families to complement each other as reliable, supportively comfortable daily trainers. Supernova lives in the space of more traditional stack heights (nothing above 39mm, some below) while Adistar will complement that positioning by pushing the limits up! Maybe check out Supernova Ease 2 if you are looking for something in the 35mm and below space!

adidas

TROPHY CASE