adidas Adizero SL 'Black White'
Colorway: Core Black/Cloud White/Carbon · Style code: HQ1349 · Release date: December 5, 2022 · Price: $77 · Availability: Available now
More colorways: adidas Adizero SL2 'Black Carbon' (IF6747) · adidas Adizero SL 'Black Carbon' (HQ1348) · adidas Adizero Evo SL 'Black' (KH9858) · adidas Adizero Evo SL EXO (KJ0425) · adidas Adizero SL 'Black Green Spark' (IG3334)
Adizero had spent years at the top of the price sheet (carbon-plated racers, then the rule-breaking Prime X) when adidas put the name on something cheap. The SL arrived in late 2022 at 120 dollars with a simple proposition: take Lightstrike, the firm everyday foam, and drop a wedge of Lightstrike Pro into the forefoot so a training shoe toes off with some of the snap of the racers.
Reviewers read it as filling a gap in the range rather than beating the class. Testers found the transitions lively and the weight low for the money, and several flagged the ride as firm over long, slow miles, a consequence of the Lightstrike base doing most of the cushioning work. It sits in the line as a lightweight daily trainer and uptempo option rather than a soft, protective one. The black and white treatment is the plainest version, with the white midsole the only place the two-foam construction shows itself.