Adidas Terrex Agravic Speed Ultra First Run Review: A Trail Super Shoe That Refuses to Compromise

Introduction

The Adidas Terrex Agravic Speed Ultra is Adidas’s trail super shoe, and it makes no apologies about what it wants from you: speed. Unveiled at the UTMB mountain running festival and heading toward a full launch in spring 2024, it borrows the best tech from Adidas’s road racers like the Adios Pro 3 and packages it into a shoe built for fast sessions and everything up to ultramarathon racing.

It already has serious credentials. Terrex pro athlete Tom Evans has been using the shoe in its development phase, including when he won Western States earlier this year. After a first run on demanding alpine trails, it is clear this is one of the most ambitious trail shoes we have tried, with a very clear idea of how it wants to be run in.

Who This Product Is For

This is a shoe for runners who prioritize pace: race-day efforts, tempo sessions on runnable terrain, and long mountain events with punishing downhills. Adidas says it is designed to aid forefoot striking and improve efficiency and running economy on the trails, helping you save energy over very long distances.

If you are a neutral runner who already likes high-stack road super shoes, this will feel familiar in spirit. If you mostly run at relaxed paces or want maximum stability on technical terrain, this is probably not the shoe for you, and that is worth taking seriously before buying.

Main Strengths

The Ride Is Genuinely Exciting

This is the first trail shoe we have come across that gets close to capturing the feeling of a road super shoe. It is bouncy, responsive, and propulsive. The rocker, the energy rods, and the Lightstrike Pro foam all work together to push you along in an exciting way. On runnable stretches you can settle into a booming, fast rhythm and extract a lot of pace from the shoe.

Best-in-Class Foam With a Trail Twist

The midsole uses Lightstrike Pro, Adidas’s best foam: bouncy, lightweight, and soft. It is the same material used in the Adizero Prime X Strung and Adios Pro 3. Running through it are Adidas’s energy rods, but instead of the five evenly spaced prongs on the Adios Pro 3, the Agravic Speed Ultra uses four, with two prongs spreading around the outside of the forefoot to add stability there and two extending back toward the heel for lateral stability. The rods feel plasticky rather than stiff like carbon, which gives a bit more flexibility for off-road running while still delivering extra pop.

Grip and Weather-Ready Upper

The outsole uses Continental rubber, as with many Adidas shoes, with lugs between 2.5 and 3.5 millimeters. They are geared toward hard-ground trails, but they adapted well across varied terrain during testing, including slightly slick rocks and roots after rain, and they showed no skittishness on wet roads. The woven upper is designed not to take on water, a deliberate choice with river crossings in mind, and a gusseted tongue adds a bit of midfoot stability.

Things to Consider Before Buying

Stability Is the Real Trade-Off

This is not the most stable shoe in the world, and Adidas seems to have accepted that to make it this fast. You have a soft, high stack, a wide forefoot but a very narrow pinch point at the midfoot, and a fairly narrow heel. As a neutral runner, over-pronation on high-stack road shoes is familiar, and the same rolling-in feeling showed up on the trails here. Over longer events on uneven ground, that can mean extra strain around the ankle area and more care needed about where you land, especially on rocky and rooty sections.

A Demanding, Opinionated Ride

The rocker is aggressive and noticeable. It wants you to run a certain way and will manhandle you a little to achieve it. A shuffly heel striker was moved toward a midfoot style with a slightly loping gait. That feels great when you lean into it, but over a long ultramarathon you will hike sections, slow down, rock back on your heels, and hit technical bits where you simply cannot hit the sweet spot. Landing on the narrower back part of the shoe feels wobblier and odd. The ride also asks more of muscles that may not be used as often, which could become tiring over very long distances.

Fit and Sizing

The Agravic Speed Ultra fits true to normal running shoe size: a UK 9, which for Adidas translates to a US 9.5, worked well. There is good room in the toe box, a nice hold around the narrower midfoot, and no heel concerns. The heel design is slightly better than some other Adidas shoes and caused no rubbing. The fit is not quite as aggressive as the Adios Pro 3, so sticking with your usual size is a safe bet.

Buying Advice

The Agravic Speed Ultra is priced at 230 euros, placing it firmly at the premium end of the trail market. For runners who match its philosophy, forefoot-leaning, pace-focused, on mostly runnable terrain, it may be the most thrilling trail shoe available right now. Less experienced trail runners or those wanting an accommodating everyday shoe may find it demands more than it gives, and might end up treating it as a shorter-distance race-day tool rather than an all-rounder.

Long-run testing is still ongoing to see how the instability and demanding ride hold up over ultramarathon distances, and a full review will follow. For now, this is one of the most exciting new additions to the trail racing scene, from a brand that chose to make fewer compromises than anyone else.

Conclusion

The Adidas Terrex Agravic Speed Ultra is fast, bouncy, protective, and genuinely fun, the closest a trail shoe has come to feeling like a road super shoe. The price of that character is stability and a ride that insists on being run a particular way. If your running style and terrain line up with its intentions, it could be a brilliant race-day weapon. If not, there are more forgiving options that will work with you rather than push you.