Adidas Adizero Evo SL vs Adidas Adizero Adios 9:
Which to Choose

The clearest split is stack and weight. The Evo SL sits on a tall, soft platform — roughly 39mm at the heel and 33mm at the forefoot, around 224g in a men's US 9 — giving it high cushioning (5/6) and enough protection to handle a half marathon and daily tempo work. The Adios 9 is far leaner at about 25mm heel / 19mm forefoot and just 176g, with low cushioning (2/6); it's noticeably lighter and lower to the ground, so you feel the road in a way the Evo SL deliberately smooths over. Both use the same PEBA-class foam and both score 5/6 for responsiveness, but they deliver that energy differently: the Evo SL relies on foam alone for a soft-yet-springy, rolling rebound that rewards picking up the pace, while the Adios 9 pairs the foam with a nylon shank — making it a composite-plated shoe, not a full carbon racer — for a firmer, snappier, more direct toe-off. Neither offers added pronation control (both neutral, stability 3/6), but the Adios 9's low platform feels more planted and predictable at speed, whereas the Evo SL's tall, soft stack can feel slightly unsettled at very slow jogging paces. On use case they overlap at 5K and 10K, but diverge at the edges: the Evo SL stretches up to the half and absorbs higher training volume, while the Adios 9 is happiest in all-out 5K efforts, intervals, and track work where its lower mass and firm, connected ride shine.