In the past few years, Adidas has been steadily building a set of trainers tailored for runners. And the German sportswear maker has been blending some of its successful technologies from its franchises to elevate existing, and sometimes new, line up of footwear.
The Adidas Supernova Rise, launched in December, is a punchy and slick pair of trainers. It builds on its predecessor, the Supernova+, which was launched in 2021. At that point, the Supernova franchise was moving back up on Adidas’s training line-up, offering good stability, thanks to the famous Boost midsole.
The new Supernova Rise is a step ahead. These shoes look sharp and nimble. They are also light and come with a firm and stable midsole.
The newly designed midsole, which the company calls Dreamstrike+, gives the shoes superior comfort and firm cushioning, making them effective on track, pavement or tar-top roads.
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The midsole is complemented by a new support rod technology -- two middle rods are splinted together to offer additional support -- that is embedded in the outsole.
The heel cushioning is built with foam, offering a soft finish for extra comfort and protection. The upper looks and feels fantastic, sporting a dark base of black and aurora with semi-green spark detailing. The laces have a slightly elastic and cushiony character, making them feel premium.
The newly designed midsole on the Adidas Supernova Rise gives the shoes superior comfort and firm cushioning, making them effective on track, pavement or tar-top roads. | Photo Credit: John Xavier
My running experience was decent. The shoes fit me well and gave sufficient support and stability while navigating between bumpy sections on the roads. I have completed about 15 miles with these shoes, moving between tar-top and dirt roads. I found the bounce to be well-controlled, compared to Adidas’s Switch FWD, which was a lot bouncier and squeaky.
The Supernova’s bounce was largely centred in the heel and the cushion was quite compliant when I was running on hard surface.
But I felt the comfort to last only when I was running at my natural pace. If I tried to run faster, I sensed a discomfort. This could possibly be because I was striking on the ball of my feet when running faster than my natural pace. The high heel cushioning was making my strides effective only when used the rocker momentum. That means, I had to strike at my heel to get the full benefit of the cushioning if I wanted to run faster.
Staying close to the hell, the large posterior lateral bevel helps you get into the rocker motion. While it eases the transition a bit, it also makes the heel clunky until the shoe breaks in.
The midfoot felt perfectly comfortable almost throughout my run. Going to the toebox, I had a slight discomfort while running as I was not heel striking initially. I felt the toe-box could have been a bit broader, like the Asics gel-cumulus 25.
I faced a similar toebox issue with Adidas’s Ultraboost, which made me think twice before I wore it for any long-distance run. In the case of Supernova Rise, this discomfort was only mildly noticeable. So, I think slightly changing the foot strike position could help avoid the discomfort.
Overall, the Adidas Supernova Rise will work well for someone with a regular width foot looking for a daily running shoe that provides a bit of bounce. And as this is one of the lightest trainers from German sportswear maker, it will also be easy to carry around. Plus, the sharp design makes these shoes a possible casual footwear replacement.
