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40Race Shoe FinderEst. 2023 · London

Head to head

adidas Adizero Adios Pro Evo 2vs
PUMA Fast-R Nitro Elite 3

Adizero Adios Pro Evo 2

approx £296

Estimated street price · £450 RRP

39mm — road legal
Fast-R Nitro Elite 3

£260

Typical street price · £260 RRP

39mm — road legal

Choose the Adizero Adios Pro Evo 2 if…

  • You want the bigger return: 3.8–5% economy gain against 3.5–4.7%, and that gap widens the longer you are out there.
  • You want the lighter shoe: 138g against 170g, a 32g difference you will feel late in a race.
  • You have a narrow foot and want to be locked in.

Choose the Fast-R Nitro Elite 3 if…

  • You want a conventional fit rather than a narrow or wide last.
  • You want more races out of one pair: about 240km of competitive life against 120km.
  • You are racing 10K — built for it, where the Adizero Adios Pro Evo 2 is not.

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 Evo 2: 206s–286sFast-R Nitro Elite 3: 186s–266s
Cost per second saved
Adizero Adios Pro Evo 2: £0.63Fast-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.

010203040503936
Adizero Adios Pro Evo 2
010203040503931
Fast-R Nitro Elite 3

What you pay

Street price
Adizero Adios Pro Evo 2~£296
Fast-R Nitro Elite 3£260■

A tilde marks an estimate: no shop we read is currently listing that shoe, so the figure is RRP less the discount comparable shoes are actually selling at.

RRP
Adizero Adios Pro Evo 2£450
Fast-R Nitro Elite 3£260

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

Cost per race
Adizero Adios Pro Evo 2£156
Fast-R Nitro Elite 3£69■

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

Cost per second saved
Adizero Adios Pro Evo 2£0.63
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 Evo 2206s–286s■
Fast-R Nitro Elite 3186s–266s

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

Economy gain
Adizero Adios Pro Evo 23.8–5%■
Fast-R Nitro Elite 33.5–4.7%
Built for
Adizero Adios Pro Evo 2Half · Marathon
Fast-R Nitro Elite 310K · Half · Marathon
Best use case
Adizero Adios Pro Evo 2The lightest marathon shoe ever sold and, on the evidence, the fastest. At 138g it is closer to a track spike than a road shoe.
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 Evo 2138 g■
Fast-R Nitro Elite 3170 g

Manufacturer figure at men's US 9.

Stack (heel)
Adizero Adios Pro Evo 239 mm
Fast-R Nitro Elite 339 mm
Stack (forefoot)
Adizero Adios Pro Evo 236 mm
Fast-R Nitro Elite 331 mm
Drop
Adizero Adios Pro Evo 23 mm
Fast-R Nitro Elite 38 mm
Foam
Adizero Adios Pro Evo 2Lightstrike Pro
Fast-R Nitro Elite 3NITROFOAM Elite
Plate
Adizero Adios Pro Evo 2carbon fibre
Fast-R Nitro Elite 3carbon fibre

Rules and fit

Road legal
Adizero Adios Pro Evo 2Yes (39 mm)
Fast-R Nitro Elite 3Yes (39 mm)

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

Fit
Adizero Adios Pro Evo 2narrow
Fast-R Nitro Elite 3standard
Stability
Adizero Adios Pro Evo 2demanding
Fast-R Nitro Elite 3demanding

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

Race life
Adizero Adios Pro Evo 2~120 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 Evo 2verified
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

No retailer we can read publishes a live price for this shoe, so we cannot check your size. The links below go to each retailer’s own search, where they show the current price and what they hold.

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.