Adidas Adizero Adios Pro 5 Clears World Athletics and Adidas Has Said Nothing

Illustrative representation of the Adidas Adizero Adios Pro 5. Image created for editorial purposes and not an actual product photograph.

Adidas didn’t announce it. There was no press release, no teaser, no countdown. The Adizero Adios Pro 5 just appeared on World Athletics’ approved shoe list this week, cleared for road competition, with an availability date of September 1, 26 days before the Berlin Marathon.

The listing is thin by design. It records a model number of ONN61, an alternative number of KI0940, and approval for “Road Races (including Track Race Walking Events).” No stack height. No weight. No price. Adidas’ running newsroom has not mentioned the shoe once.

This is the same script adidas ran in 2024. The Pro 4 surfaced on the approved list on August 28 that year, debuted on the feet of elites at Berlin 32 days later, then went into shops the following January at $250. The gap this time is 26 days. Berlin is the launch pad, and adidas is a main sponsor of the race.

The complication is that Sabastian Sawe, the obvious athlete to carry a new shoe, withdrew from Berlin on August 27 with an unspecified injury. That leaves Tigist Assefa as the most prominent adidas runner on the start list. She’s going after her own world record in the women’s race and has made no secret of it.

That last point matters. The Adios Pro Evo 3, which Sawe and Yomif Kejelcha wore when they broke two hours in London in April, carries three separate entries on the same list — including two “DEV” listings for shoes that are never sold and expire after 12 months. The Pro 5 has none of that. It’s a retail shoe, which is exactly what the Adios Pro line has always been.

Adidas will almost certainly make an official announcement before September 27. Until then, everything beyond the WA listing is speculation.