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0 The “Chasing 100” Inspiration in Adizero Prime X EVO
The world watched as Adidas took over the Nardò Ring in Italy for “Chasing 100“ last year. It was an audacious attempt to break the 6-hour barrier for 100km. This wasn’t just a marketing stun, it was a high-speed laboratory to push prototypes to commericalization. By targeting the 100km distance, Adidas chose a torture test that exposes weaknesses in stability and muscle fatigue that a 42km marathon might not.
For years, the industry followed Nike’s lead. But while Nike has more recently pivoted to fire up their innovation, Adidas has already gone crazy miles ahead. By focusing on the 100km distance, they aren’t just chasing a record, they are challenging the very capabilities of what a running shoe can do.
This is Adidas asserting itself as the primary innovator. The brand took he Formula 1 approach and build a radical, illegal prototype (the Adizero Prime X Evo) to learn what is possible and setting the stage in the market. Hopefully, these learnings and technology will diffuse increasingly down to the other products for runners on even their 10km run. One key innovation we saw with the Adizero Prime X Evo is the introduced of their Energy Rim, a big contrast to the story and function of a plate or rod.
The Approaching Death of the Embedded Plate?
When carbon plated running shoes was launched, the idea was simple: stiffness and rebounce. It acted as a lever and as you transitioned to your toe-off, the plate resisted bending and then snaps back thus propeling the runner forward. Yet because the plate is inside the foam, the foam on the sides is unsupported. However, with the evolution of midsole foams became softer and stack heights got higher (like the 50mm Prime X), the shoe started to feel like “standing on a marshmallow. At the same time, the science behind all the midsole foam started to experience a certain level of maturity.
We have been through the trampoline era with the Novablast series from ASICS and even the EVO SL. It is the workings of the foam and it delivers. With the innovation to the bouncy foams, the need of a plate is no longer the same. Adidas has realized that the modern problem isn’t a lack of pop but it’s a lack of control. Their new foams are so explosive that they don’t need a spring from the plate anymore, they need a cage.
Why This is a “Tell-Tale” Sign for the Industry
This shift represents a tell-tale sign for the future of the industry and where its innovation is going into. The era of harsh feeling embedded plates could be coming to an end with a re-focus towards natual, fluid ride. Relocating the structural support to the Energy Rim, Adidas allows the runner’s foot to stay in direct contact with the foam, eliminating that robotic plastic sensation and providing a more intuitive ground feel. It signals a transition from making shoes simply stiff to making them smarter where geometry and perimeter containment replace internal rigidity to provide stability.
Ultimately, we are moving toward a future where we stop asking is it plated and start asking how is it stabilized? This will be the pivotal moment where we will witness either Adidas forcing other brands to change or that this becomes a relic of the past.
What do you think? Are we moving towards a new era of product development for running shoes? Till next time, just keep running.
