Every year the Majors see some of the fastest times, biggest finish-line moments, and a few course records. This year we also have to hand one out to the thing on the athletes’ feet. Because when you line up the shoe data from all seven World Marathon Majors, there’s one name that shows up on podium after podium, and it isn’t the same human being.

The Scoreboard

Let’s start with the number that made us do a double take. Through Chicago, Adidas athletes had taken eight of the first 12 Major wins of 2026, and seven of those eight came in a single shoe: the Adizero Adios Pro Evo 3. They also owned 20 of the 36 podium spots. That’s more than half the podium, in a sport where a dozen brands are throwing everything they have to be at the top.

Then New York happened, and Sheila Chepkirui won the women’s race in the Pro Evo 3 too. That makes it eight Major wins for this one shoe, and nine for Adidas overall once you count Hawi Feysa’s win in Tokyo in the Adios Pro Evo 1 V2.

Podium depth tells the same story. Through Chicago, the Pro Evo 3 had been worn by seven winners, five runners-up, and three third-place finishers. That’s 15 podium trips for one model. We checked, and nobody else comes close to sniffing that.

A Late Arrival

Here’s the part that makes it wild: the Pro Evo 3 didn’t even exist for the first two Majors. It debuted after Tokyo and Boston, just ahead of London. Then it went out and got to work.

In London, Sabastian Sawe and Yomif Kejelcha both ran under two hours in it. Those were the first two sub-two marathons ever run, and both happened in the same shoe, on the same day.

Later in the season, it carried Amos Kipruto to a 2:01:09 win in Chicago and Hawi Feysa to a 2:13:33 on the women’s side. Tadese Bikila’s second-place 2:02:56 that day was also in the Pro Evo 3.

And the two shoes weigh just under 100 grams. Let that sink in. That’s insane.

Roughly the weight of a couple of energy bars.

We’ve spent years being told that more foam, more stack, and more weight were the price of speed. This shoe has all that and still weighs next to nothing.

The Rest of the Bunch

Asics had one big day and one big win. John Korir won Boston in an unreleased Metaspeed Sky prototype, broke the course record in 2:01:52, and Asics put seven of the top 10 men and women in its shoes that day. It was a statement. It just wasn’t a season-long one, and Asics ended up with a single Major win.

Nike got its moment late but after winning the Ironman World Championship and then the New York Marathon, their new Apex may be the next great shoe.

Andreas Almgren won New York in his marathon debut in the Nike Apex, a new zero-drop racer that doesn’t go on sale until January. Mary Ngugi-Cooper also took third in Boston in an unreleased Alphafly 4 prototype, so Nike clearly has more cooking.

On put two runners on the podium in New York, Under Armour got Sharon Lokedi a second-place finish in Chicago, and Brooks and Xtep both had development and race shoes in the mix at the front in New York. Puma, meanwhile, went home from the Majors without a single medal, though its athlete Amanal Petros won the European Championship Marathon and took second in Frankfurt.

One more detail we can’t stop thinking about: Chicago is a Nike-sponsored race, and Adidas still won both the men’s and women’s titles there. New York is a New Balance-sponsored race, and New Balance didn’t land anyone on the podium. When it comes to the finish line, the sponsor logo on the banner doesn’t seem to do much. But kind of funny for us.

For the Rest of Us Schlubs

Honestly? We can all have a little hope and a little reality check. The reality check is that the very best shoe in the world is still being worn by people running 2:01. And that ain’t us dog. But we can dream and we know that if you build the engine, fuel correctly, and wear any of these shoes, you’ll probably have a good day.

But man, we can also hope that the tech trickles down. The Pro Evo 3 sold out fast in the US, and a restock was on the way in the UK, which tells you how much everyday runners want a piece of this. Lighter, snappier, more efficient racing shoes are coming for every price tier, and that’s good news for the rest of us chasing a PR at whatever marathon we take on.