An experience that took on a deeper symbolic meaning at the Stadio dei Marmi. There, where artistic expression and athletic excellence have coexisted for nearly a century, adidas has created an experience that aligns perfectly with Pietro Mennea’s own legacy of values, translating those very ideals into what we now call hybrid training. For one evening, the stadium’s solemnity—reimagined by a series of glowing pink light effects and infused with the visual identity of the Three Stripes—was permeated by a radically contemporary athletic current. A temporal and visual short circuit that brought together two distinct representations of physicality: on one hand, the marble-like stillness of the sixty figures surrounding the arena, each frozen in their respective discipline; on the other, moving and ever-changing bodies, called upon to continuously shift from the speed of running to the muscular contraction of strength.

It is precisely in this shift that adidas identifies one of the founding principles of hybrid training. Running. Lifting. Pushing. Enduring. These are actions that, taken individually, have always been part of the vocabulary of sports, but when combined, they outline a different vision of the athlete: one capable of responding to diverse demands and continually adapting its body.

adidas is exploring this sporting territory with increasing focus, not only through initiatives such as the Hybrid Hub Roma—which was preceded by the Hybrid Hotel in Milan—but also by directly supporting the competitive culture of the sport through its official partnership with ATHX, the international format that combines running and strength training within the same competition. The Rome event is thus part of a broader vision aimed at supporting the evolution of hybrid training by designing products, environments, and experiences capable of meeting today’s challenges. It is from this very research that the new Adizero Dropset Pro was born, the star of the Rome event presented in the Solar Turbo and Lucid Pink colorways. This shoe is designed to address the very nature of this discipline, in which the body must transition from the momentum of running to the stability required for weightlifting, often within a matter of seconds. adidas has addressed this dichotomy by merging two distinct design philosophies: on one hand, the lightness and speed-oriented nature of the Adizero family; on the other, the stability and control that define the DNA of the Dropset line.

Thanks to the Go Full Hybrid Experience, the shoe accompanied participants from a personalized try-on, designed to identify the best fit, to an immediate on-field test at the Stadio dei Marmi for a group session where over two hundred athletes, creators, and members of Italy’s leading hybrid training communities tackled a circuit inspired by the format of international competitions. An open-air training hub where adidas successfully reimagined the function of a space historically dedicated to showcasing ancient disciplines, transforming it into a venue capable of hosting a new sport scene and its community. Through the lens of the RiseUp Duo and the words of Camilla Massa and Eugenio Bianchi, adidas coaches and athletes, we relive this special Roman night.

Hybrid training is born from the convergence of athletic qualities that have traditionally belonged to separate worlds. What does this way of training represent to you and, more profoundly, what new idea of the athlete do you think it is helping to define?

Eugenio Bianchi: “From the very first day I began practising it, hybrid training represented, for me, the very idea of athletic completeness. Athletes across many disciplines have long trained by developing different physical qualities because, although strength and power may appear closely related, for instance, they are built through very different methods. To those, you add endurance and an entire range of other capacities that ultimately determine how effectively an athlete can perform within a given discipline. What we are trying to do is find a balance between all of these components. In that sense, the hybrid athlete occupies a genuinely new position within the sporting landscape. And I think that is precisely the essence of being ‘hybrid’: not becoming excessively specialised in one single quality, but attempting to develop the highest possible degree of completeness. Naturally, that takes time. And that time has to be distributed intelligently throughout training, because developing different physical capacities requires consistency, planning and attention.”

Camilla Massa: “This question resonates with me particularly strongly because my own journey has been rather unconventional. I became a professional athlete after turning thirty and having three daughters, so in many ways I think my story encapsulates perfectly what hybrid training can represent. To me, it is a discipline that is helping to redefine athletic longevity. Compared with many other sports, you see professionals reaching extremely high levels at a later stage in life, and that also allows people who begin later to feel that competitive fire, the desire to test themselves, still burning. But I think there is another equally important aspect. Hybrid training and hybrid competitions can offer people who may have gradually lost contact with fitness or sport over the years a way back in: a way to return to training and rediscover a competitive dimension, not only against others but, perhaps more importantly, against themselves. So yes, I think we are seeing the emergence of an athlete who is more long-lasting, but also more inclusive. And, more broadly, a sport that is far more open to everyone.”

The Stadio dei Marmi is a profoundly symbolic place. What did it feel like to know that you would be taking on a hybrid training circuit here, placing such a contemporary practice in dialogue with one of the most monumental settings in Italian sporting culture?

Eugenio Bianchi: “For me, being here today is a genuine source of pride. This stadium is deeply connected to the figure of Pietro Mennea, who once said something that has always stayed with me: if he could look back at the thousands of hours he had spent training and begin again, he would try to train even more. To me, that sentence expresses dedication perfectly. It is almost as if he were saying: ‘I did an enormous amount, and yet I still feel it was not enough.’ That is something I recognise in myself. I am forty years old, and I still ask myself every day: have I done enough with my life? Could I have done more? Even now, I continue to question myself constantly. In a certain sense, today I try to do more than I did when I was younger, when perhaps I had more physical potential and far more time ahead of me. As the years pass, you realise how profoundly your relationship with sport changes. If you continue practising it into a more mature stage of life, you begin to understand how much that relationship evolves within you. That is why being here today, in this place, and thinking again about Mennea’s words makes me feel that I am in the right place, at the right moment, and within the right context. Hybrid training reflects that philosophy perfectly. You have to train, but you also have to be willing to train a great deal. It requires time precisely because you need to develop different disciplines and different capacities. Naturally, everyone does that at their own level, but you have to understand one thing clearly: if you want to train seriously for this sport, it requires both time and dedication.”

Camilla Massa: “In some way, this setting speaks about evolution and about what we are experiencing not only in sport, but within contemporary culture more broadly. I think it is a very powerful image of change: something rooted in a more classical, historical tradition can enter into dialogue with what is new without losing its own value. A more traditional visual and cultural language can coexist with a contemporary practice such as hybrid training. And I think it is precisely through the meeting of those two dimensions that something beautiful, new and, above all, accessible to everyone can emerge.”

Being part of adidas Hybrid Hub also means participating in a project through which adidas is choosing to support and contribute to the growth of hybrid training. How important is it, for you, that a brand with this history invests so significantly in building a culture, a series of events and a community around this movement?

Eugenio Bianchi: “It is extremely important to see organisations such as adidas approach this world with such a structured vision behind them. Especially at the beginning, a sport like this was often regarded almost as a trend. And trends can certainly generate large numbers, but numbers alone are not enough to build something that lasts. You can be incredibly strong today and disappear tomorrow. When, by contrast, you begin to see established organisations entering the movement, ones that are not simply sportswear brands, but structures made up of experienced people, different areas of expertise and a broader vision, you begin to perceive something entirely different. A community starts to form. And ultimately, what allows a sport or an entire movement to endure over time is precisely the community that develops around it. I can feel a very strong one taking shape now, supported both by hybrid events and competitions and by brands such as adidas, which are creating tangible opportunities for people to come together. People enjoy training together and sharing not only the result, but also the process required to reach it. That is fundamental, even if it is often taken for granted. Because sport is, above all, training. Competition is a more individual moment: everyone approaches it for themselves. But preparing within a community is something entirely different from doing everything alone. You genuinely feel part of something. And that is a very powerful sensation. One that, particularly within the adidas universe, you can feel very clearly.”

Camilla Massa: “This movement has existed for several years now, but the fact that major brands such as adidas are no longer simply observing it from the outside and are instead choosing to invest directly in the sport, in people and in athletes is, for me, a very strong confirmation that hybrid training has developed an identity of its own. I have been part of this world for five years, essentially since its early stages, and I have had the opportunity to witness its evolution first-hand. At the beginning, there were mainly events. Today, we can genuinely speak about a sport. And the fact that it has become relevant enough to attract the attention and investment of brands of this scale means that it has built a culture and a community strong enough to endure over time. Personally, I am deeply grateful to adidas because its support allows me to travel, to compete in different parts of the world and to have beside me a partner that genuinely believes in its athletes. That is something I would never take for granted.”

Beyond performance and individual results, experiences such as adidas Hybrid Hub are also conceived as collective moments. What feeling, message or sense of awareness would you like people to carry with them after moving through this circuit and sharing an evening like this?

Eugenio Bianchi: “I think the most important thing to communicate to anyone taking part in an event like this is the awareness that behind it all there is a very deliberate intention to build a community made, first and foremost, of people. A brand such as adidas would not necessarily need to organise events of this scale. It could rely on marketing, social media or countless other tools. Instead, it has chosen to invest directly in people. And that, to me, is what makes the experience particularly meaningful. Today I am here as an athlete and, in a sense, I represent someone who will inevitably go through a transition at some point because sporting careers have cycles. And yet, within the same space and the same event, I can share this experience with people practising sport at completely different levels. From someone who has only just started, to someone with more experience, to the semi-professional and the professional athlete. They all coexist here. And that is by no means something to take for granted. I have practised other sports and I know how difficult it can be for a beginner to find themselves in the same environment as a professional. Here, something different happens. Distances are reduced, levels intersect, and very different people end up sharing the same space and the same training experience. For me, that is precisely what makes a day like today genuinely special.”

Camilla Massa: “I think community constitutes an enormous part of this sport. There is not only the event itself, or the training that comes before it. Above all, there is a community of people sharing a journey. I have always believed that sport is one of the few moments in which you can genuinely dedicate time to yourself without necessarily having to think about everybody else. That is why I hope the people moving through this circuit and taking part in tonight’s event are able to rediscover that fire. Not simply the desire to compete with others, but also the willingness to confront themselves. And, above all, I hope they rediscover the value of dedicating time to their own bodies and their own wellbeing. As the years go by, particularly in adult life, between work, family, children and everyday responsibilities, it becomes very easy to lose that personal space little by little. Sport, by contrast, is fundamental. It forces you, in a way, to turn your attention back towards yourself, your body, your health and your wellbeing. And I think that today, perhaps more than ever, that is essential.”