The adidas World of Sports campus in Herzogenaurach is nothing short of a playground for any true running devotee — a wonderland where sci-fi meets material science, visionary design, and athletic innovation. It’s no coincidence that this utopia of speed became home to the annual ‘Adizero: Road to Records’ event — a stage for adidas’ top-tier athletes to not only challenge their personal limits (and those of human possibility), but to celebrate the very soul of the brand itself.

If the Adizero Adios Pro Evo 2 — adidas’ latest cutting-edge running shoe — was the technological focal point of the event, the raw athletic brilliance of the adidas elite community was its emotional core, embodied most strikingly in Agnes Ngetich’s world-record performance over 10km. Immersed in the hypnotic historical archive of the brand, its continuous technological progress, and its global network of athletes, we had the chance to speak with two of adidas’ key figures: Alberto Uncini Manganelli and Samu Truax.

Their insights confirm a central truth — now more than ever, the path to a world record is not just an individual pursuit. It is a coordinated effort, a shared ideal, and a cultural mission — one shaped as much by product innovation as by the greatness of the human factor.

Alberto Uncini Manganelli – Global GM of adidas Running and Credibility Sports

“I’m a former footballer. Running, for me, started out as part of my athletic training — a necessary routine, not a passion. In fact, I’ll say something a bit provocative: when you play football as a kid, running feels like a punishment. If you mess up, they send you around the pitch. It gets ingrained in your head that way, especially compared to sports that feel more action-packed. Running becomes associated with fatigue, discipline — not joy. But once you stop playing football, something shifts. In my case, running became a tool for physical and mental wellbeing. A form of balance. I’ll admit, the first three or four kilometers are always a drag. But once I break through that initial wall, everything changes. I start feeling good, lighter. That’s why I run now — to feel good, to stay centered.

My connection with running didn’t stay personal for long. Professionally, I’ve worked across different industries, but sport has always been a common-thread. And when I entered the running industry, something lit up. I started caring deeply — about the details, the performance, the athletes, the competitions, and how consumers behave. That interest kept growing. With time, and with work, it turned into real passion. At the adidas campus, you feel that spirit — and the culture. You feel the weight of a brand that has helped shape this sport and continues to do so. Within our Team, the exchange between an iconic past and an innovation-driven present flows naturally. Yes, we work on performance — but what we’re really working on is something bigger: tangible benefits for every kind of runner, from elite athletes to weekend joggers in the park.

When a shoe delivers something truly meaningful, I believe it crosses into cultural territory. A concrete example? The Adizero Adios Pro Evo 1. It’s such an exceptional product that people line up overnight to get their hands on it. That’s when you realize: this isn’t just about performance anymore — it’s become part of culture. From that point, evolution follows. We created more accessible versions, like the SL, without carbon rods, tailored to everyday runners. And suddenly, that shoe starts showing up in different settings, triggering a shift — in style, in culture. But these transitions can’t be planned. You hope for them, you create the conditions — but you can’t force them. Culture can’t be manufactured. It emerges when a product is powerful enough to spark something extraordinary. For us, that spark comes from performance. It’s through performance that new cultural codes begin to take shape.

Supporting athletes is part of that vision. We have a continuous support structure, both locally and globally. We run programs with our managers, development initiatives in key markets, grassroots activities, training camps. Road to Records is one of those standout moments where we equip athletes with real tools and topics to reflect on — from physical recovery to social media presence, from mental prep to performance culture. This event was born in the midst of COVID, when no races were taking place. We wanted to create an opportunity for our athletes to compete — and it became so much more. In just five editions, it brought together athletes, retailers, media, creators, and communities. The first two editions alone pulled in over 100,000 livestream views — numbers even major marathons don’t always hit. We saw three world records broken in the very first edition. This year, the public 5K race — open to all runners — passed 200,000 registrations. Again, those are figures that surpass even the most renowned marathons. All of this tells you something simple: it works. 

And it works because it’s real — because the athlete remains at the heart of everything. Records are not our objective per se, but they are the result of our mission to build the best possible conditions for competition. So when one of our athletes sets a world record, it’s a deeply emotional moment. They’re the ones who do the work — we’re here to give them the tools to unlock their full potential. Each record raises the bar, redefines standards, pushes the limits of sport just a bit further. And for us, that’s essential. Whether a record will fall today, I don’t know — maybe none, maybe many. But our direction stays the same: create innovation that drives the sport forward. That’s our DNA. 

Other brands may come from different places — all valid. But our foundation lies with the athlete, with performance, with a commitment to serve sport at its highest level. And when performance reaches its peak, it transforms into culture. We’re a sports brand — and the culture we express is the culture born from sport lived to its fullest. That’s where it all starts: with the spiked shoes made for Jesse Owens, with the miracle moments in Berlin, with the first World Cup final won in adidas boots. From those victories and records that didn’t just mark history — they rewrote it.”

Sam Truax – Global Product Manager Adizero Racing

“Right now, our focus is still very much on being the lightest and fastest — for athletes, but also for anyone ambitious enough to keep pushing, training, and chasing something meaningful. Whether it’s a personal best, a record, or a goal that defines the future of what Adizero stands for, that’s the space we want to be in. We’re continuing to develop our products together with our innovation teams, building on the momentum we’ve created with the Pro Evo line — positioning ourselves as leaders in innovation and staying true to being performance footwear, first and foremost, for athletes.

Looking ahead, we have a lot of big races and events coming up — both here in Germany and around the world. We want to be present, supporting our athletes, continuing to create running shoes designed for them, and following our strategy, which is built around three core principles. The first is: runner first. What’s the benefit to the runner? What do they expect from us? But just as important is the other side of that coin: what can we give them that they haven’t asked for — things they didn’t know they needed, until we delivered them. That dynamic of expectation and surprise is at the core of our thinking. Then there’s innovation: using technological advancement to provide tangible progress. And finally, benefit expression — making the purpose of the shoe visible. Like in the Pro Evo, where you can literally see the energy rods through the upper. It’s about showing exactly what the shoe does, just by looking at it. That’s how we frame our top-line strategy.

The relationship between the R&D Team and athletes comes into play at various stages of product development. Early on, we’ll go directly to the athletes — to training camps — and bring our core development team to get firsthand feedback. That’s a key moment for us, a primary way we gather insight. Just this February, we were in Iten, Kenya, meeting with over 30 adidas athletes to talk about upcoming shoes and development directions. And opportunities like the one we have this week are just as important — we currently have around 120 of the world’s best athletes on campus. We’ve spent time in small groups, running product rotations, listening to what they love and don’t love about their current gear — what they rely on, what they’re missing. Feedback can come in many forms, but that kind of direct, honest input from elite runners is a huge advantage in the development process.

We’re always developing new things — that’s no secret. But if I had to say what I’m most excited about right now, it’s the updated stiffening element we’ve introduced in the Evo line and in the newly launched Adios Pro 4. It’s a new evolution of the energy rod system, which has become a crucial part of what running shoes can do for athletes. This kind of technology first emerged in the early 2020s — carbon-reinforced stiffening elements, introduced both by us and our competitors. But what makes our approach unique is the shape: we’re still the only ones in the industry using a five-finger carbon rod design, which mirrors the structure of the metatarsals in the foot. It’s a totally different mindset, and that shape gives the shoe a very specific kind of stiffness that translates into performance. So yes, all of our racing shoes include this five-finger carbon structure — it’s a signature part of our innovation.”