Adidas Took 9 of 14 Marathon Majors Wins in 2026 Season

Adidas runners won nine of the 14 men's and women's titles across the 2026 World Marathon Majors, closing the season Sunday with Sheila Chepkirui's win at the New York City Marathon and Andreas Almgren's victory in the men's race. Counting podium places, the German brand claimed 21 of 42 top-three spots — exactly half — across Tokyo, Boston, London, Sydney, Berlin, Chicago and New York.

The result marks a near-total consolidation of elite marathon results around a single product family. All but a handful of the Adidas finishes came in the Adizero Adios Pro Evo 3, a 97-gram men's size 9 race shoe that stands as the lightest race-legal model on record.

What did the Pro Evo 3 deliver technically?

The shoe sheds more than 30 percent of the weight of the Pro Evo 1 and Pro Evo 2 while improving running economy by 1.6 percent against the Pro Evo 2, according to Adidas. The weight reduction came from two construction changes:

• The carbon-fiber EnergyRods system, previously placed under the metatarsal bones for support, was replaced by an EnergyRim running only along the midsole perimeter.
• Across all three Pro Evo models, supercritical foams are cut from a slab rather than compression molded, reducing air bubbles in the material and saving weight.

The Pro Evo 3's results carry historical weight. Sabastian Sawe and Yomif Kejelcha, first and second in London, became the first and second men to break two hours for the marathon. Tigst Assefa set a new women-only world record, also in London, then won Berlin.

Where did rivals finish?

Nike placed second with three major winners and eight podium finishes. Its wins were split across the Vaporfly 4, Alphafly 4 and the Apex — an unreleased pinnacle model stacking two Air Zoom units at the forefoot. Andreas Almgren won New York in the Apex, and Milkesa Mengesha took third in Chicago in it. Brigid Kosgei won Tokyo in the Vaporfly 4.

Asics and Under Armour took one win each. John Korir won Boston in an unreleased Metaspeed Sky prototype; Sharon Lokedi won the Boston women's race in the Velociti Elite 3 and placed second in Chicago in the same shoe.

Podium counts behind Adidas's 21 and Nike's eight: Asics five, On four, Under Armour and the Chinese brand Xtep two each, Brooks one. Xtep's two results came from the 160X 8.0 Pro, worn by Tebello Ramakongoana in Sydney and Kamohelo Mofolo in New York. On's Lightspray Cloudboom Strike 2 placed second twice through Hellen Obiri.

Which races broke the pattern?

Only the season's first races fell outside the Pro Evo 3. In Tokyo, men's winner Tadese Takele wore the Pro Evo 1 and women's third-place finisher Hawi Feysa the Pro Evo 1; Bertukan Welde (second) and Alexander Mutiso Munyao (third) wore the Pro Evo 2. Benson Kipruto later took third in Boston in the Pro Evo 2. Feysa went on to win Chicago in the Pro Evo 3.

Berlin produced the season's most lopsided result: Adidas swept both podiums outright, with Guye Adola, Gemechu Dida and Gabriel Greay in the men's race and Assefa, Bedatu Hirpa and Dera Dida in the women's race — six of six positions in a single shoe model.

Sydney split the honors. Addis Gobena won the men's race in a Nike Alphafly 4 prototype, while Peres Jepchirchir and Shure Demise Ware gave Adidas a 1–3 in the women's race.

The 2026 season closes with Adidas holding half of all available podium positions and the two most consequential records in the sport, a benchmark Nike, Asics, Under Armour and the emerging Xtep program will measure 2027 shoe cycles against.