Mizuno is challenging Adidas' Pro Evo 3 with a ridiculous sub-100g carbon racing shoe with a laceless spray-on upper

Adidas might have been the first major running brand to crack the 100g barrier (and the two-hour marathon limit) with a high-stack racing shoe, but it didn’t take long for the competition to catch up.

Mizuno just announced the Hyperwarp 96, an extraordinarily stripped-back carbon running shoe that weighs, as the name rather conveniently suggests, just 96g.

That technically puts it a gram below the Adidas Adizero Adios Pro Evo 3, which weighs an average of 97g in a UK 8.5.

Adidas only unveiled that shoe earlier this year as its first sub-100g racer, making Mizuno’s arrival particularly interesting.

As expected, the Hyperwarp 96 sits at the very top of Mizuno's racing line-up and has been engineered specifically to get beneath the 100g mark.

More interestingly, it does so without completely sacrificing the cushioning and rebound expected from a modern supershoe.

How do you make a 96g running shoe?

The Hyperwarp 96 is built on the Mizuno Enerzy XP+, an entirely new midsole foam developed specifically for the shoe.

Mizuno says engineers removed material from areas of the midsole that aren't needed at foot strike, sculpting away anything that wasn't contributing to performance.

The resulting shoe still manages a substantial 39mm heel and 36mm forefoot stack, giving it the same 3mm drop as Adidas' Evo 3.

There's also a full-length, three-dimensional carbon Smooth Speed Plate, which Mizuno says is designed to increase bounce and rebound during toe-off.

To save even more weight, Mizuno has created a 3D-engineered lace-free spray-on upper, similar to On's LightSpray technology.

It's constructed with two densities in the lower section of the foot, then becoming a single-density structure higher up.

Judging from the first images, the result appears to be a thin shell wrapped directly around the foot.

Mizuno says its development process has also changed considerably behind the scenes.

Following investment in its Osaka headquarters, the company says it can now turn around new prototypes within 48 hours of receiving tester feedback, allowing designers to make rapid iterations during development.

The Mizuno Hyperwarp 96 will make its first public appearance around the Berlin Marathon and be available to consumers in early December 2026.

Mizuno hasn't formally confirmed its retail price yet, but it's expected to launch with an RRP of around £400.

Head over to Mizuno for more information.