The adidas Adizero Evo SL is a shoe that can handle anything from daily training to races. All photos: iRunFar/Bryon Powell
The adidas Adizero Evo SL ($150) has become a road shoe phenomenon, and for good reason. It’s an incredibly lightweight, bouncy, versatile shoe with a sleek aesthetic and an affordable price. What more, really, can you ask for?
The Adizero Evo SL is the first edition of the shoe, and though adidas has since released several variants, this is a review of the original. One could classify it as a daily trainer, a tempo or workout shoe, and maybe even a race shoe. They’re also stylish enough to wear around town. That breadth of characterization underscores its one-of-a-kind versatility, and for its price, it’s one of the best values you can find. Although it doesn’t have a carbon plate, the premium foam gives it the responsiveness needed for either racing or training. The simple, clean aesthetic even makes it wearable around town. It is a true road shoe, though, with an outsole that does not perform well on unpaved surfaces, so save it for those solely road runs. Since it doesn’t have a plate, it provides a more natural ride than similar trainers and suits all types of gaits and footstrike patterns, but its stability is limited.
The Adizero Evo SL has a stack height of 38 millimeters in the heel and 32 millimeters in the forefoot for a 6-millimeter drop, with an actual weight of 7.9 ounces (223 grams) for a U.S. men’s 9. The shoe’s light weight, reasonable price, and lively ride have earned it a spot in our Best Cushioned Road Running Shoes guide.
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Adidas Adizero Evo SL Upper
The engineered mesh upper of the adidas Adizero Evo SL is highly breathable.
The upper of the adidas Adizero Evo SL is an ultra-breathable engineered mesh. I ran most of my miles in these shoes in the winter, and I could feel how easily they allowed air to pass through — which, of course, is a great benefit in warmer temperatures. These will be a tremendous summer shoe. Because the mesh is so thin, it’s natural to have concerns about the upper’s durability, but I’ve put nearly 400 miles on a pair with no tears or unexpected signs of wear.
It took a few runs to nail the lockdown, but once I did, I had no issues with fit. It felt streamlined and secure throughout the heel and midfoot, and the not-too-wide, not-too-narrow toebox fit my foot well. Height-wise, the toebox has a bit more volume than expected, to the point that wearing a thicker sock might not be a bad idea. Some people might prefer a more secure fit in the toebox for racing, but I wouldn’t consider it a dealbreaker, especially if the alternative is paying $100 more for a shoe with similar performance features.
To me, the biggest weaknesses of this shoe are relatively small ones: the tongue and laces. The tongue isn’t secured with an internal midfoot wrap and often slid down or to the side mid-run, and I had to stop to readjust it several times. The laces are thin and finicky, and they came untied a few times, especially during the first few runs. For whatever reason, I didn’t have much trouble with them once I had a lot of miles on the shoes.
Any discussion of this shoe’s upper is not complete without mentioning its clean, understated aesthetic. While style is subjective, the crisp design of these shoes, with adidas’s classic three stripes taking center stage in multiple colorways, makes them a trendy lifestyle shoe, too. You could wear them around town without a second thought.
Adidas Adizero Evo SL Midsole
The Lightstrike Pro midsole is a highlight of the adidas Adizero Evo SL.
The midsole is perhaps the most stunning part of the adidas Adizero Evo SL. Made from a thick slab of Lightstrike Pro — the same premium foam found in the adidas Adizero Adios Pro 4, the brand’s top-tier racing shoe — the midsole is supremely light, lively, and responsive. The first time I ran fast in these shoes during a set of strides on the road, I was struck by how much easier it was to pick up the pace relative to a normal pair of trainers.
These shoes were my go-to pair this winter for a marathon training block. I ran everything from easy doubles to one-kilometer repeats on the track to 20-mile marathon workouts in them, and they performed well throughout the entire range, proving to be a lightweight, bouncy companion for hundreds of miles.
While I opted for a pair of the aforementioned Adizero Adios Pro 4 for the marathon itself — you can learn more about the shoe in our Best Marathon Running Shoes guide — the Adizero Evo SL could absolutely be a race-day shoe if you don’t want to shell out $250 or more for a pair of super shoes. Although they don’t have a carbon plate and lack the extra propulsion of specialized racing shoes, their ride is comfortable and energetic enough to be a race-day option, especially for a 5k up to a half marathon. At about half the price of many super shoes, they’re a great value.
This is not the shoe to wear, however, if you have concerns about stability. The relatively high stack height, combined with the lack of structure in the midsole, results in little to no support.
Sometimes we can get lost in stack heights, geometries, and foam types, and we forget that one of the best indicators of a good running shoe is how you feel running in it. The midsole of this shoe simply makes it fun to run in.
Adidas Adizero Evo SL Outsole
The Continental rubber outsole of the adidas Adizero Evo SL.
The adidas Adizero Evo SL has a Continental rubber outsole, with three pieces of rubber strategically placed to provide durability in key areas. There is a large patch at the front of the foot and two pieces at the heel, all with elongated oval cutouts. Rubber covers the majority of the outsole, with some exposed foam in the middle of the foot, and more in a stripe going down toward the heel.
The outsole performs best on dry pavement. In the rain, the lack of tread is definitely noticeable. On my only foray onto gravel in these shoes, I was more mindful of my steps to avoid large pieces of rock and other on-the-ground obstacles that I wouldn’t have given a second thought to in slightly more rugged shoes. They were fine for the 10-mile gravel run, but I wouldn’t make a habit of wearing them off road.
I’m not sure whether it’s due to my landing pattern or an inherent issue with the shoe’s durability, but the outsole began to show wear near the heel after about 120 miles. It never affected the shoe’s performance, but I’m curious to see if it happens on my second pair.
Adidas Adizero Evo SL Overall Impressions
The adidas Adizero Evo SL offers unmatched versatility at a great price.
The adidas Adizero Evo SL is a pretty remarkable shoe. With a premium foam, one-of-a-kind versatility, and clean design, it’s one of the rare shoes that checks nearly all the boxes of what I look for in a running shoe. It can handle easy runs, track workouts, and long runs with equal aplomb, and it’s so breathable and lightweight that it just feels good on the feet. Because this shoe outperforms many others at higher price points, and it looks good doing it, it’s found a place in our Best Cushioned Road Running Shoes guide.
I’m typically skeptical of things that get a lot of hype, but these shoes exceeded the already high expectations I had before running in them and quickly became one of my all-time favorite pairs of running shoes. They were nearly perfect marathon training shoes this winter, and I’ll be putting more miles on another pair no matter what my next race is. No shoe is for everyone, of course, and if you are seeking a shoe with a lot of stability or an outsole that can handle regular miles on light trails, there are better options. But, for lots of fast and fun road miles, these are hard to beat.
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Call for Comments
- Have you run in the adidas Adizero Evo SL before? What are your thoughts?
- What do you value most in a road shoe?
Our Favorite Cushioned Road Shoes
Check out our Best Cushioned Road Running Shoes article to learn more about our current favorite cushioned road running shoes.
