In years gone by, choosing a hybrid racing shoe meant compromise. Do you double down on the runs with a carbon plate and high-cushion foam or prioritise strength with a firm midsole and feel for the ground? It's a decision I faced when I took on my first Hyrox and a dilemma many athletes will encounter when preparing for their races. But that ends now.
With the new Adizero Dropset Elite, Adidas claims you get the best of both, with no trade-offs. Representing the brand's first step into hybrid fitness racing, it combines the best qualities of the PB-breaking Adizero line and the rep-repeating reliability of the Dropset strength training collection.
To find out exactly what that means, I was invited to the Adidas HQ in Nuremberg, Germany, for an exclusive first test of the shoe ahead of its global launch.
The Backstory
Though the Adizero Dropset Elite shares its name with two other product lines, Adidas was eager to stress during the launch briefing that this shoe is an innovation in its own right. ‘No element, apart from maybe the laces, is taken from another shoe,’ says Adidas director of footwear innovation, Harry Miles. ‘Every component is brand new. It's not just taken from elsewhere and put together.’
Throughout the product development, Adidas leant on 2025 men’s Hyrox world champion, Tim Wenisch, along with its full roster of hybrid talent, to help test and prototype each iteration. ‘It was built in collaboration with our top level athletes,’ says Miles.
But he also makes the point that this is a shoe open to competitors of all levels. ‘This technology and this concept will be available for anybody who wants to go and enter a hybrid race, break their personal best and hopefully get on the podium.’
The Shoe
Pros
- Dual-density foam offers cushioning and energy return
- Split plate runs down edges of shoe for stability
- High drop provides locked-in feel on strength exercises
- Engineered woven upper promotes breathability
- Great grip
Cons
- Flimsy tongue
- Pricey
Features at a Glance
| Average Weight | 210g |
|---|---|
| Stack Height | 44mm (heel), 32mm (forefoot) |
| Drop | 12mm |
| Upper | Engineered mesh |
On first look, the Adizero Dropset Elite passes the eye test. It has a dual-layer of Adidas’ LightStrike Pro foam in the midsole, a high stack height, lightweight feel and breathable upper. The big question is how has stability has been woven into the shoe while maintaining speed?
Heel
Let’s begin with the heel. For starters, it’s massive, measuring 44mm at the heel – that’s 5mm taller than the Adizero Adios Pro Evo 2, Adidas' flagship super shoe. The drop is also huge, at 12mm from heel to toe. Miles explains that this extra height gives the Adizero Dropset Elite a grounded, stable feel that puts the toes and forefoot into a ‘very solid position’ during strength exercises.
‘We took that insight from our elite weightlifting shoes, where we knew that the elevated heel was giving a lot of stability and also that additional biomechanical lever to pull when you try and get into a deep squat,’ he says. ‘The heel geometry is really trying to push you into the centre and make sure that it's not biased to the lateral or medial side or wobbly.’
Midsole
There’s also innovation in the midsole. While standard plated shoes use a layer of carbon that spreads across the whole foot, the Adizero Dropset Elite features an 'Energy Rim', a modified version of Adidas' energyrods road technology. Shaped like a meat carving fork, it extends down the edges of the shoe, before joining up at the heel.
That does a few things. Firstly, it dials down the stiffness and increases comfort. ‘We wanted to maximise the cushion under the forefoot and remove the stiffening element directly under the forefoot,’ says Miles. 'It enabled us to have pretty much uninterrupted foam between the foot and the ground. You can still feel the stiffness and the resilience in there, but we've moved it to the sides so that you only have foam underneath your feet.’
It also provides stability by centring the foot. ‘We made it so that it's stable from the lateral landing point to the medial side when running,’ says Miles. ‘Each wing of the energy rim moves independently, which allows you to gradually transition to the ground.'
Sandwiching the Energy Rim, there's two layers of high-performance foam, sampled from the LightStrike Pro library used in Adidas' racing footwear. 'We've got a different density on the top and bottom to make sure that it's optimising for that stiffness and cushioning,' says Miles. For yet more stability, the foam also extends up the sides of the shoe, encasing the side of the feet slightly.
Outsole
Grip is an important component of Hyrox shoes (we've all seen those viral sled videos), which is why Adidas has paid close attention to the tread material and pattern.
Having tried and tested a few different compounds, Miles says they settled on Continental rubber on the outsole, which gives 'an amazing balance between traction and abrasion resistance' and a diamond pattern that 'gives a lot of bite'.
The thickness of the outsole was also chosen deliberately. 'It's thin, which allows the bottom of the shoe to mould to any surface that it's on,' says Miles. 'That's one of the features that the athletes are telling us that we did a good job on. It makes sure that they're planted to the ground.'
Upper
Up top, there's an engineered woven upper, which gives the shoe its breathability. 'That's an insight that we got quite often,' says Miles. 'In races, it can get quite hot and sweaty, especially during functional movements.'
Elsewhere, the tongue and lacing systems are 'traditional construction'. 'We wanted to stick very true to what athletes feel good in, with no distractions,' says Miles.
How I Tested
I was one of the first people to get to try the Adizero Dropset Elite. To test the shoe, Adidas set up a mini Hyrox circuit, complete with sled push, lunges, burpee broad jumps, wall balls and a 200m running track.
Adidas also arranged a lactate threshold test inside their athlete training lab, which involved progressively harder rounds of burpee broad jumps, wall balls and curved treadmill efforts, giving me the opportunity to push the shoe (and my fitness) to its limits.
The MH Verdict
Adidas set out with the seemingly impossible aim of creating a hybrid racing shoe that combines the opposing attributes of speed and stability, with no compromises. As far as I can tell based off my first few workouts in the shoe, the Adizero Dropset Elite has managed it.
The LightStrike Pro foam and Energy Rim system offer plenty of speed and energy return when running between strength stations. On the flat indoor track, I was able to speed into corners with confidence thanks to the Continental rubber outsole and pick up the pace on straight stretches. While on the treadmill, the rocker-like geometry of the plate led to smooth transitions and roll off from heel to toe across a range of paces, with a nice balance of stiffness, flexibility and cushioning.
On paper, the stack height seems contradictory to its stability efforts, but the 12mm drop puts the forefoot into a strong position at the bottom of squats. During wall balls, my feet felt planted and the raised heel allowed me to achieve good form with a comfortable ankle position. The split geometry of the Energy Rim plate also managed the stiffness in the midfoot you'd otherwise get with a carbon plate when bent during sleds and lunges.
I'm not fully sure on the tongue. I found it too flimsy, especially when lacing, where it can slide out of place. But equally, I appreciated the lightweight feel and breathability of the mesh engineered upper – an important consideration for indoor racing. Plus, once laced up and on the move, the tongue didn't cause me any issues.
All in all, I think the Adizero Dropset Elite does a stellar job at bridging the gap between cardio and strength exercises. It feels fast and energetic on runs yet stable and locked in under loads (albeit fairly light ones). For that reason, I think this is a shoe that's going to prove popular, particularly on the Hyrox circuit, with its run-heavy, lifting-light format.
Pros
- Dual-density foam offers cushioning and energy return
- Split plate runs down edges of shoe for stability
- High drop provides locked-in feel on strength exercises
- Engineered woven upper promotes breathability
- Great grip
Cons
- Flimsy tongue
- Pricey
Features at a Glance
| Average Weight | 210g |
|---|---|
| Stack Height | 44mm (heel), 32mm (forefoot) |
| Drop | 12mm |
| Upper | Engineered mesh |
The Adidas Adizero Dropset Elite launches in the UK at 9:00 AM on Wednesday 18 March, priced at £230.
Luke Chamberlain is the ecommerce editor for Men’s Health UK where he compiles expert-led buying guides and in-depth product reviews across gym wear, fitness tech, supplements, and grooming. Responsible for testing everything from the latest gym headphones to the best manscaping tools, Luke also enlists the help of leading health and wellness experts to help readers make informed choices when shopping online – whether it's to debunk the latest viral hair growth trend or to get the lowdown on a new type of recovery tech. He also covers major sales events for Men’s Health, such as Black Friday and Amazon Prime Day, scouting and verifying hundreds of discounts in order to recommend only the most genuine deals on offer. A magazine journalism graduate from the University of Sheffield in 2018, Luke has also worked as assistant editor for Outdoor Swimmer magazine and as an ecommerce writer for The Recommended. When he’s not testing the latest health and fitness products, he’s busy plotting routes for his next trail run or gravel ride out of London. Follow Luke on Instagram at @lukeochamb
