Adidas Pro Elite
2020
4 athlete-issue pieces from the 2020 cycle live in our archive — the season this page reads, result by result, before it reads the cloth.
Adidas Pro Elite 2020 is the 2020-season generation of adidas athlete-issue kit — issued to contracted athletes and federation squads, never sold at retail, and dated by cycle like everything in the athlete channel.
This page reads the season first — what adidas and the athletes in its kit actually did that year, verified result by result — then the cycle's design, and every piece of it in our archive.
Part of our Brand Series — the full story is in The History of Adidas Pro Elite. Jump to the full cycle collection or browse the category.
- What it is
- The frozen-season cycle — built for a Tokyo Games that moved to 2021
- The launch
- Adizero Adios Pro, 30 June 2020 — adidas's first supershoe (EnergyRods)
- The records
- 3 road WRs in its debut year: Jepchirchir 1:05:34 & 1:05:16, Kandie 57:32
- Still standing
- Jepchirchir's 1:05:16 women-only half record — July 2026
- Gdynia
- Jepchirchir's 1:05:16 — run at the world half championships in federation kit; the record is hers
- The anecdote
- Lyles's 18.90 — run over 185 metres: blocks set 15 m forward
- In our archive
- 4 athlete-issue pieces of the black brushstroke cycle
The Season That Almost Wasn't
The 2020 cycle was built for an Olympic season that never happened: Tokyo was postponed on 24 March, the first peacetime postponement in Olympic history, and the calendar collapsed behind it. What survived fits on five squares of a calendar — and three of them are world records.
The 2020 squares (table)
| Month | What happened |
|---|---|
| JAN | (calendar wiped) |
| FEB | (calendar wiped) |
| MAR | Tokyo postponed |
| APR | (calendar wiped) |
| MAY | (calendar wiped) |
| JUN | Adios Pro launches |
| JUL | (calendar wiped) |
| AUG | (calendar wiped) |
| SEP | Jepchirchir 1:05:34 WR, Prague |
| OCT | 1:05:16 women-only WR, Gdynia |
| NOV | (calendar wiped) |
| DEC | Kandie 57:32 WR, Valencia |
The Adios Pro Answers Back
The year's real adidas story ran through the shoes the kit was issued alongside. On 30 June adidas launched the Adizero Adios Pro — its first supershoe, five carbon EnergyRods mimicking the metatarsals — as the long-awaited answer to Nike's Vaporfly era. It closed its debut year with three road world records: Peres Jepchirchir's women-only half marathon 1:05:34 in Prague, her 1:05:16 in Gdynia in October — run at the world half championships in Kenya's federation kit, and a women-only mark that STILL stands in September 2026 — and Kibiwott Kandie's absolute half record of 57:32 in Valencia, the first sub-58 ever run.
And because 2020 refused to be entirely serious: Noah Lyles, adidas since he signed out of high school in 2016, crossed the line of a pandemic-era remote 200 m in an impossible 18.90 — then learned his blocks had been set 15 metres forward. He had run 185 metres. The tweet aged better than the result.
From this cycle · in the archiveAdidas Pro Elite 2020 Women Crop TopRacing crop from the same quiet cycle — one of only four 2020 pieces to reach the archive.80,00 €View piece →The Kit of the Cycle
The 2020 apparel cycle mirrors its quiet season: matt-black bases with a painterly white-and-red brushstroke slashed across the singlet chest, plain black crops and briefs with a small white mark. A kit made for a Games that moved — which is exactly why so little of it circulated.
Construction follows the athlete-issue rules our authentication guide covers: competition-weight cloth, race cuts, no retail run. “Pro Elite” is the collector market's label — adidas itself doesn't use it.
From this cycle · in the archiveAdidas Pro Elite 2020 Men Distance SingletThe black brushstroke singlet of the frozen season — issued for a Games that moved a year.60,00 €View piece →The Full 2020 Cycle in the Archive
Every 2020 piece we hold, grouped by edition — in-stock first, sold pieces dimmed and documented, refreshed against live stock. For the other adidas years, the brand pillar carries every cycle, and the 2024 deep-dive covers the Paris year.
What is Adidas Pro Elite 2020 kit?
Athlete-issue adidas kit from the pandemic cycle — built for the postponed Tokyo Games, issued in small numbers into an almost raceless year. The black brushstroke design marks it; four pieces live in our archive.
What did adidas do in the 2020 season?
Launched its first supershoe — the Adizero Adios Pro, June 2020 — and closed the year with three road world records in it: Jepchirchir's two women-only half marathon marks (the 1:05:16 from her Gdynia world title still stands in 2026) and Kandie's 57:32, the first sub-58 half in history.
Is Kandie's 57:32 still the record?
No. Jacob Kiplimo took it in Lisbon in 2021 (57:31) and holds the current mark of 57:20, set in Lisbon in March 2026. Jepchirchir's women-only 1:05:16 from Gdynia, by contrast, still stands.
How do I recognise a 2020 adidas athlete-issue piece?
Matt-black bases with a white-and-red painterly brushstroke across the singlet chest, and plain black crops and briefs with a small white logo. Competition cloth, race cuts, no retail equivalent.
Sources and References
- Tokyo Games postponed — Olympics.com — March 2020
- Adizero Adios Pro: created by and for record breakers — adidas News — June 2020 launch, EnergyRods
- Jepchirchir world record and world half gold, Gdynia — World Athletics — 1:05:16 women-only WR, still standing
- Kandie half marathon world record — World Athletics — 57:32, Valencia 2020; since broken (Kiplimo 57:20, 2026)
- Jepchirchir wins Olympic marathon — BBC Sport — Sapporo 2021, over Kosgei
- adidas' Tokyo gold medalist wins NYC — Runner's World — Jepchirchir adidas; NYC one-two with Korir
- Barega wins first track gold of Tokyo — ESPN — Ethiopia (adidas kit), 10,000 m
- Lyles 19.31 breaks Johnson's record — LetsRun — Eugene 2022
- Amusan world record — World Athletics — 12.12, still standing 2026
- Lyles completes the treble in Budapest — Olympics.com — 100/200/4×100, first since Bolt 2015
- Paulino wins world 400 m title — World Athletics — 48.76 NR
- World marathon report, Budapest — World Athletics — Beriso-Gebreslase one-two
- World championships marathon, Tokyo 2025 — LetsRun — Jepchirchir outsprints Assefa
- Every shoe the 2025 marathon winners wore — Sole Retriever — 7 major titles in adidas, NYC podium sweep
- Marathon world record progression — Wikipedia — Record status July 2026