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40Race Shoe FinderEst. 2023 · London

Head to head

adidas Adizero Adios Pro 4vs
New Balance FuelCell SC Elite v5

Adizero Adios Pro 4

£176

Typical street price · £230 RRP

39mm — road legal
FuelCell SC Elite v5

£135

Typical street price · £250 RRP

40mm — on the limit

Choose the Adizero Adios Pro 4 if…

  • You race off a strong, repeatable stride and want the more aggressive ride rather than the safer one.
  • You want a conventional fit rather than a narrow or wide last.
  • You are racing 10K — built for it, where the FuelCell SC Elite v5 is not.

Choose the FuelCell SC Elite v5 if…

  • You want the lighter shoe: 182g against 210g, a 28g difference you will feel late in a race.
  • You want something more forgiving. This is the steadier platform — useful if your form goes late, or if you are on your feet longer.
  • You have a broad foot, or your toes spread as a long race goes on.
  • Money matters: it is selling around £135 against £176, and the time difference between them is smaller than the price difference suggests.

What does this
mean for you?

Every figure below is recalculated from your race and your current time. The gap between two shoes is not fixed — it grows with how long you are on your feet.

Over marathon from 3:45:00

Time back
Adizero Adios Pro 4: 165s–240sFuelCell SC Elite v5: 172s–253s
Cost per second saved
Adizero Adios Pro 4: £0.21FuelCell SC Elite v5: £0.16

Ranges, not promises. Both figures are against a standard trainer, and the honest answer for most runners is that the difference between two shoes of this class is smaller than the difference a month of decent training makes.

Every number.

010203040503933
Adizero Adios Pro 4
010203040504036
FuelCell SC Elite v5

What you pay

Street price
Adizero Adios Pro 4£176
FuelCell SC Elite v5£135■

What the shoe is actually selling for across the shops we read, not its RRP.

RRP
Adizero Adios Pro 4£230
FuelCell SC Elite v5£250

List price. Almost nobody pays it for a race shoe.

Cost per race
Adizero Adios Pro 4£43
FuelCell SC Elite v5£34■

Street price divided by the races the foam stays fast for.

Cost per second saved
Adizero Adios Pro 4£0.21
FuelCell SC Elite v5£0.16■

The whole-life question: what each second of race time costs you.

What it does

Estimated saving
Adizero Adios Pro 4165s–240s
FuelCell SC Elite v5172s–253s■

Against a standard trainer, over the distance and time set above.

Economy gain
Adizero Adios Pro 43.2–4.3%
FuelCell SC Elite v53.3–4.5%■
Built for
Adizero Adios Pro 410K · Half · Marathon
FuelCell SC Elite v5Half · Marathon
Best use case
Adizero Adios Pro 4The best value at the very top of the market. Within touching distance of the Evo 2 for performance at half the price and twice the life.
FuelCell SC Elite v5The best super shoe for wide feet, and one of the most stable at full stack. A 4mm drop and a broad platform make it unusually forgiving late in a marathon.

How it is built

Weight
Adizero Adios Pro 4210 g
FuelCell SC Elite v5182 g■

Manufacturer figure at men's US 9.

Stack (heel)
Adizero Adios Pro 439 mm
FuelCell SC Elite v540 mm
Stack (forefoot)
Adizero Adios Pro 433 mm
FuelCell SC Elite v536 mm
Drop
Adizero Adios Pro 46 mm
FuelCell SC Elite v54 mm
Foam
Adizero Adios Pro 4Lightstrike Pro
FuelCell SC Elite v5PEBA FuelCell
Plate
Adizero Adios Pro 4carbon fibre
FuelCell SC Elite v5carbon fibre

Rules and fit

Road legal
Adizero Adios Pro 4Yes (39 mm)
FuelCell SC Elite v5Yes (40 mm)

World Athletics caps road racing shoes at 40 mm of stack.

Fit
Adizero Adios Pro 4standard
FuelCell SC Elite v5wide
Stability
Adizero Adios Pro 4balanced
FuelCell SC Elite v5stable

Neither is better in the abstract — it depends on your stride.

Race life
Adizero Adios Pro 4~260 km■
FuelCell SC Elite v5~250 km

How long the foam stays fast, not how long the shoe survives.

Data confidence
Adizero Adios Pro 4verified
FuelCell SC Elite v5verified

■ marks the better figure where one is genuinely better. Fit, foam, drop and stability carry no mark — they depend on your foot and your stride, not on which shoe is superior.

In your size.

Where to buy

Your UK size

Best price today — some sizes£150at Runningbear — £80 under RRP

9 retailer checks failed on the last run, so their prices are missing rather than wrong.

Prices are captured when the site is built and stamped with the time of that check. We never rank a retailer by what it pays us; where a link earns a commission it is marked sponsored and the price you pay is unchanged.

Where to buy

Your UK size

Best price today — some sizes£135at Runningbear — £115 under RRP

9 retailer checks failed on the last run, so their prices are missing rather than wrong.

Prices are captured when the site is built and stamped with the time of that check. We never rank a retailer by what it pays us; where a link earns a commission it is marked sponsored and the price you pay is unchanged.