At the HYROX Chengdu stop, a surprisingly large number of athletes in the elite divisions (men’s singles, women’s singles, men’s doubles and women’s doubles) opted for road racing shoes — 13 of the 18 pairs on show were racing shoes.
adidas’ ADIZERO ADIOS PRO 4 alone accounted for half of that share with six appearances.
The elite men’s doubles winning duo both wore adidas ADIZERO ADIOS PRO 4 and posted a time of 53:28. The Swedish athlete who finished second in the elite men’s singles was also wearing the same model.
Notably, real-world validation by these top pros seems to suggest the PRO 4 is no longer as prone to carbon-plate failures.
Nike’s Alphafly 3 and Streakfly 2 each made two appearances, and they showed up on the podium in the elite men’s doubles, finishing second and third respectively.
The Alphafly 3 delivers sustained propulsive return; the Streakfly 2, with its thinner sole, offers outstanding responsiveness and grip — it’s nimbler and lighter across events and provides a more immediate feel on push-off.
Zhu Fang and Liao Lujiao, who set a new domestic women’s doubles record and won the title, also chose common road racing shoes.
The Zoomfly 6 and 160X 7.0 offer good feedback and stability; they’re accessible yet high-performing, making them especially friendly choices for female competitors.
The other five pairs on the start line were shoes specifically designed for mixed-discipline training.
For example, the elite men’s and women’s singles champions both chose the adidas ADIZERO DROPSET ELITE; the elite women’s doubles runners-up both wore PUMA Deviate NITRO Elite 4.
These models provide strong stability and grip during strength exercises — the former, with a 12mm drop, makes efforts in the medicine-ball event feel more direct — while during the running segments they offer top-tier foam that brings lightness and good energy return. The move toward “stable and sturdy” running shoes is the fundamental reason these models have earned athletes’ trust.
Overall, athletes’ shoe-choice strategies for HYROX currently fall into two camps.
One is the “speed” camp that opts for traditional thick-soled road racing shoes. Relying on the plate’s high stiffness and strong lower-body power, these athletes can hold pace in the strength events without losing time, then exploit racing shoes’ advantage in the running segments to gradually pull away from rivals.
The other is the “new track” camp that chooses shoes designed by major brands specifically for mixed-discipline competition. These shoes balance the stability and lateral support needed for cross-training while improving weight and geometry to enhance running economy.
Because HYROX is structured as “8 runs, 8 workouts,” the running and training portions are relatively balanced.
For elites, a pair of racing shoes can open gaps or hold positions during the running stages, but they may “pay a stability price” in the strength events; a more comprehensive HYROX-specific shoe demands a more balanced athlete, since a reliable mixed-training shoe is what raises overall performance.
If it were you, which type of shoe would you prefer?
#HYROX #Chengdu #TrailRunningExplosion #CrossTraining #RunningGear