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40Race Shoe FinderEst. 2023 · London

Head to head

adidas Adizero Adios Pro 4vs
PUMA Fast-R Nitro Elite 3

Adizero Adios Pro 4

£176

Typical street price · £230 RRP

39mm — road legal
Fast-R Nitro Elite 3

£260

Typical street price · £260 RRP

39mm — road legal

Choose the Adizero Adios Pro 4 if…

  • You want something more forgiving. This is the steadier platform — useful if your form goes late, or if you are on your feet longer.
  • Money matters: it is selling around £176 against £260, and the time difference between them is smaller than the price difference suggests.

Choose the Fast-R Nitro Elite 3 if…

  • You want the bigger return: 3.5–4.7% economy gain against 3.2–4.3%, and that gap widens the longer you are out there.
  • You want the lighter shoe: 170g against 210g, a 40g difference you will feel late in a race.
  • You race off a strong, repeatable stride and want the more aggressive ride rather than the safer one.

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–240sFast-R Nitro Elite 3: 186s–266s
Cost per second saved
Adizero Adios Pro 4: £0.21Fast-R Nitro Elite 3: £0.30

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
010203040503931
Fast-R Nitro Elite 3

What you pay

Street price
Adizero Adios Pro 4£176■
Fast-R Nitro Elite 3£260

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

RRP
Adizero Adios Pro 4£230
Fast-R Nitro Elite 3£260

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

Cost per race
Adizero Adios Pro 4£43■
Fast-R Nitro Elite 3£69

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

Cost per second saved
Adizero Adios Pro 4£0.21■
Fast-R Nitro Elite 3£0.30

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

What it does

Estimated saving
Adizero Adios Pro 4165s–240s
Fast-R Nitro Elite 3186s–266s■

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

Economy gain
Adizero Adios Pro 43.2–4.3%
Fast-R Nitro Elite 33.5–4.7%■
Built for
Adizero Adios Pro 410K · Half · Marathon
Fast-R Nitro Elite 310K · Half · 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.
Fast-R Nitro Elite 3The most aggressive shoe on this list. The decoupled heel and exposed plate make it feel like it is actively throwing you forward.

How it is built

Weight
Adizero Adios Pro 4210 g
Fast-R Nitro Elite 3170 g■

Manufacturer figure at men's US 9.

Stack (heel)
Adizero Adios Pro 439 mm
Fast-R Nitro Elite 339 mm
Stack (forefoot)
Adizero Adios Pro 433 mm
Fast-R Nitro Elite 331 mm
Drop
Adizero Adios Pro 46 mm
Fast-R Nitro Elite 38 mm
Foam
Adizero Adios Pro 4Lightstrike Pro
Fast-R Nitro Elite 3NITROFOAM Elite
Plate
Adizero Adios Pro 4carbon fibre
Fast-R Nitro Elite 3carbon fibre

Rules and fit

Road legal
Adizero Adios Pro 4Yes (39 mm)
Fast-R Nitro Elite 3Yes (39 mm)

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

Fit
Adizero Adios Pro 4standard
Fast-R Nitro Elite 3standard
Stability
Adizero Adios Pro 4balanced
Fast-R Nitro Elite 3demanding

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

Race life
Adizero Adios Pro 4~260 km■
Fast-R Nitro Elite 3~240 km

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

Data confidence
Adizero Adios Pro 4verified
Fast-R Nitro Elite 3verified

■ 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£182at Upandrunning — £78 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.